Bain aims to list Seven & i's supermarket business in about three years

TOKYO : Bain Capital aims to list Seven & i Holdings' supermarket and retail business in around three years after boosting synergies within the group, an executive of the U.S. private equity firm said on Thursday.

Bain also plans to scale up the business, potentially through acquisitions of rival retail chains as well as technology companies to digitize operations, Bain partner Naofumi Nishi said in an interview with Reuters.

"The food supermarket industry is still fragmented and prone to economies of scale," Nishi said. "If the opportunity arises, we would like to actively consider acquisitions of other companies," he said.

Seven & i agreed on Thursday to sell York Holdings, its non-core businesses including its sprawling supermarket operations, to Bain for 814.7 billion yen ($5.50 billion). Seven & i and its founder families will reinvest to take 40 per cent of York.

The York business houses 29 units including the Ito-Yokado chain, one of Japan's best-known grocery store businesses, as well as baby goods store Akachan Honpo and the company that operates Denny's restaurants in Japan.

Nishi said Bain was not considering management and business reshuffles. The York business "has stores in premium locations and has ample room for growth," he said.

Bain is stepping up investment in Japanese retail and consumer goods sectors, including recent buyouts of outdoor goods maker Snow Peak and Gelato Pique brand pajama maker Mash Holdings.

Dealmaking has ramped up in Japan, as global funds such as Bain, KKR and Blackstone are increasingly seeking out Japanese investments viewed as having poor corporate governance or underutilised assets that could be reformed to increase shareholder value.

Bain competed with KKR and Japanese buyout firm Japan Industrial Partners in the second round of bidding for the York business.

($1 = 148.2600 yen)