Bangkok--18 Dec--Siam Commercial Bank
Wave Entertainment PLC yesterday announced the acquisition of Jeffer Restaurant, an operator of restaurant chains in Thailand with nearly 80 branches nationwide, in its bid to transform into an integrated Lifestyle & Entertainment Company.
Total acquisition value of over THB 600 mm offers Wave a platform to build a food business, further leveraging on Jeffer’s existing facilities such as a central kitchen, established nationwide logistics network and organization structure.
The acquisition was carried out through Wave Food Group Co., Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Wave Entertainment PLC, for 100% controlling stakes in Jeffer Steak. Since its establishment in 2010, Jeffer has quickly established itself as a leader among teenagers and young adults for serving quality Western style meals at affordable price points. Such business model has proven to be overwhelmingly successful with rapid branch expansion. Furthermore, nationwide urbanization has increased accessibility to Western style dining among medium income consumer group, Jeffer’s main target, thus promising attractive growth opportunities for Jeffer.
Matthew Kichodhan, Chairman and CEO of Wave Entertainment, commented that this is a timely acquisition given Jeffer’s promising future expansions from urbanization and potential outlets growth both in Thailand and other emerging Southeast Asia countries with Wave’s 100% trademark ownership of the brand “Jeffer”.
Branch expansion will continue to be a key strategy. On 15 December, Jeffer has recently opened a new branch at Thammasart University, Rangsit Campus. Moreover, Jeffer will open another new branch this month and is expected to open at least one branch in January next year. This is Wave’s second acquisition within the past year as the company has quickly transformed itself into an integrated Lifestyle & Entertainment Company encompassing Food, Education and Entertainment sectors. The acquisition of Wall Street English (WSE) in May 2014, offered tremendous revenue upsides for Wave from future expansions of WSE as currently WSE generates nearly THB 800 mm of revenues from 9 operating branches. WSE is a leading English education institute which also targets teenagers and young adults, a common consumer target group to Wave’s Lifestyle & Entertainment business. These two new businesses add on to Wave’s existing realms of entertainment business consisting of Wave TV production and I-Wave concerts organizer, thus offering media and event coverage and synergies for the whole group. Mr. Matthew further commented that there are other lifestyle business opportunities that the company is currently looking at to further fulfill its target of becoming an integrated Lifestyle & Entertainment company.
Wave also owns a 20% equity stakes in Thai Solar Energy (TSE), which has only recently been listed in the Stock Exchange of Thailand with market capitalization of approximately THB 15 bn.
The Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) acted as the Sole Financial Advisor for the acquisition and provided acquisition financing, while Hunton & Williams acted as Legal Advisor.