Domino’s pays $42m to buy out Japan stake

Dominos-Pizza-JapanDomino’s Pizza is taking full ownership of its Japanese joint venture by buying out partner Bain Capital’s minority stake for $42 million.

Domino’s, which in May announced Bain’s intention to exit, on Monday said it would pay less than the $46.4 million it set aside for the deal in its full-year accounts.

The purchase will be funded by a combination of cash and existing debt facilities, and is expected to be completed by Friday.

Domino’s said the transaction will be earnings per share accretive in the current financial year, which started on July 3.

The deal is the second in less than a week for Domino’s.

Last week, the company continued its European expansion with the 32 million euro (A$48.1 million) acquisition of German chain Hallo Pizza.

The cost of integrating the 170 stores into Domino’s Pizza Deutschland, which is majority owned by Domino’s Pizza, will bring the ASX-listed company’s net spend on the deal to between $A52.6 million and $A63.1 million.

That transaction will only have a small positive contribution to Domino’s FY18 underlying earnings because it won’t complete until early in the 2018 calendar year.

Earlier this month, the pizza chain said it had returned $5.4 million in underpaid wages and superannuation to its employees over the past four years under a national audit of its stores that is due to wrap up in December.

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