Samil PwC expands global foothold with Carlyle's Japan KFC deal

Global accounting industry leader PricewaterhouseCoopers’ South Korean member firm is expanding its foothold with global mergers and acquisitions, advising on the sale of fried chicken franchise KFC Corp.’s Japanese operator to The Carlyle Group Inc.

Seoul-based Samil PricewaterhouseCoopers and PwC Japan have jointly acted as sell-side M&A advisors on the transaction of Tokyo-listed KFC Holdings Japan Ltd., which is estimated at 135 billion yen ($859.4 million), according to banking sources on Thursday.

Carlyle launched a tender offer for KFC Holdings Japan on May 21 for 6,500 yen per share, a 20.4% premium to the fast food franchise’s closing price on the previous day. The takeover bid will run through July 9.

After the tender offer, the US private equity giant plans to buy the entire 35.1% stake that Mitsubishi Corp. holds in KFC Holdings Japan by September and delist the fast food chain.

“It is unusual for a Korean accounting firm to advise a Japanese listed company on a sale to a global PE manager. PwC’s global networks strongly support Samil PwC’s cross-border deals,” a banking industry official said.

Samil PwC’s involvement in the KFC Holdings Japan deal follows the accounting firm’s advisory services to Seoul-based Orchestra Private Equity, which acquired a 100% stake in KFC Korea for 55 billion won ($40.1 million) in January 2023.

Yum! Brands, the parent group of the global business of KFC, built a relationship with Samil PwC through the KFC Korea deal and requested the accounting firm’s advisory services to sell KFC Holdings Japan, according to banking sources.

Steven Jeong, partner of Samil PwC’s cross-border corporate finance and M&A, has led the services with PwC Japan.

Samil PwC and PwC Japan also worked together as advisors for Japanese retail behemoth Aeon Co. when it sold convenience store chain Ministop Korea in January 2022. Lotte Corp. acquired 100% of Ministop Korea for 313.4 billion won at the time.

Write to Jong-Kwan Park at pjk@hankyung.com

Jihyun Kim edited this article.