The Abraaj Group, a Dubai based investment firm focussed on emerging and frontier markets, has announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to purchase 100% of Java House Group, East Africa’s leading coffee-led casual dining chain, from private equity firm Emerging Capital Partners (ECP), and the Company’s founder and chairman, Kevin Ashley.
Java House Group was established in Nairobi in 1999. In 2012, Emerging Capital Partners acquired a majority stake in the Company, with the founder retaining a minority stake. ECP has helped Java House grow from 13 shops in Nairobi into East Africa’s largest casual dining brand, building an ‘eat-out’ culture. Today, it has an unrivalled regional footprint of 60 stores across 10 cities in Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda.
The Company has three flagship brands: Java House, the largest coffee-led, all-day casual dining concept; Planet Yogurt, the region’s first self-service frozen yogurt chain; and 360 Degrees Artisan Pizza, an upmarket Italian pizzeria concept. Java House also operates commercial coffee roasteries, providing quality coffee and bean sales to its own stores and to supermarkets, hotels, restaurants and wholesale buyers.
Java House currently serves over 320,000 guest checks per month, offering food and drinks covering 25 different food categories, and employs 2000 people.
Abraaj says it will leverage Java House’s market leadership position and strong heritage to grow the Company and expand into new markets through acquisitions across East, West and North Africa.
Commenting on the transaction, Mustafa Abdel-Wadood, Managing Partner and Global Head of Private Equity at The Abraaj Group, said: “This landmark transaction, which showcases our ability to source outstanding assets across our target markets, is a compelling opportunity to build on Java House’s success story across sub-Saharan Africa, to create a true regional champion. Africa’s rapidly expanding middle class, sustained population growth and increasing urbanization is creating compelling investment opportunities in multiple sectors, and we believe Java House is ideally positioned to benefit from these trends.”
Bryce Fort, a Founding Partner of ECP and head of the pan-African firm’s Nairobi office added, “In partnership with Java’s founder Kevin Ashley and a talented management team, we have taken the business from one city and just 13 locations when we originally identified the deal and scaled it across East Africa to 3 countries and 60 sites today. Abraaj is taking over the reins of a powerhouse African brand at an exciting time in its growth trajectory with enormous potential to further expand a successful formula across the continent.”
Ken Kuguru, Chief Executive Officer of Java House said, “As Java House aims to accelerate into its next phase of growth, we were seeking a partner that has the scale, platform and sector expertise to enable us to achieve our aspirations. The Abraaj Group is that partner of choice and we look forward to working closely with their team to extend our market leadership position across the continent.
