Ropes & Gray Advises Bain Capital on $5.4 billion Acquisition of Supermarket & Specialty Stores Businesses from Seven & i Holdings

Ropes & Gray advised long term client Bain Capital, a leading global private investment firm, on its agreement to acquire certain grocery, specialty and other retail businesses from Seven & i Holdings, in a transaction valued at 814.7 billion yen (approximately $5.37 billion).  The signing of the definitive agreement was announced on March 6.

The proposed acquisition includes 29 subsidiaries and affiliated companies, which operate major supermarket chains Ito-Yokado and York-Benimaru, as well as specialty retailers including Loft, Akachan Honpo, and Seven & i Food Systems (which operates the family restaurant chain Denny's).

Founded in 1984, Bain Capital is one of the world’s leading private investment firms with 24 offices on four continents, more than 1,850 employees, and approximately US$185 billion in assets under management.

The Ropes & Gray team included private equity partners Tsuyoshi Imai and Ben Morris and associate Takashi Nakamura, all based in Tokyo. Other members of the team included private equity partner Saeko Inaba and antitrust partner Ruchit Patel; counsel Rupert Phillips; associates Alex Nakayama, Satoshi Iga, Charles Hruska and Anna Pugh; and trainee Eloise Edwards-Hedges.