Sector: Food Retail, Date: May 2009
Dixy Chicken operates five dozen or so British based fast food outlets, with further stores operating in various countries throughout the world.
Whilst most countries have two or three well known fast food chicken brands competing for market share, the British fast food chicken industry is characterised by being dominated by KFC alone. Given the British tend to consume more chicken per person than most countries, there exists a great opportunity to develop another national fast food chicken brand.
Given the diverse geographic spread of their stores, and well established franchise operation, Dixy are uniquely positioned to generate rapid sustainable growth by consolidating their current position as the second largest brand in the fast food chicken market.
Sensing an opportunity, Shakeel Arshad, recently appointed managing director of Dixy chicken, approached the existing owners of the Dixy brand, an American fast food company owned by an internationally renowned multi billion dollar private equity firm, and successfully negotiated the purchase of global rights for the Dixy brand and franchise business. These negotiations were carried out jointly with the Directors of 1st Ethical, who assisted with the prolonged negotiations and comprehensive due diligence process, and also facilitated the provision of equity finance to fund the deal.
Shakeel comments, “Dixy Chicken is surprisingly well known throughout Britain as a leading halal brand and has massive potential to be developed through out the world. I am confident we will be able to roll out several new stores of our own in the coming year, along with a dozen or so stores operated by new franchisees. We will also be working with existing franchisees to improve the customer experience, and are confident of increasing the number of overseas countries we are operating in.”
Shakeel further commented, “Partnering with 1st Ethical is a great synergy for Dixy Chicken, not only because of the Sharī‘ah-compliant ethos of both firms, but also as it allows us to plan for future growth knowing we have ready access to equity finance.” 1st Ethical have developed a model allowing qualifying new British based franchisees to access Sharī‘ah-compliant finance. For more details please contact Dixy head office.
The acquisition of the Dixy brand and franchise business marks an important event in the development of 1st Ethical Mushārakah as it demonstrates an ability to successfully conclude deals at the highest corporate levels.