[THE INVESTOR] Hong Kong based private equity firm Affinity Equity Partners, which owns 100 percent stake in Burger King Korea, has acquired the fast-food chain’s operations in Japan, according to industry sources on Oct. 16.

Affinity has reportedly signed a master franchise agreement with Burger King’s parent company, Restaurant Brands International and Burger King Japan. 

Under the deal, it will be fully in charge of the burger franchise’s operations for the next 20 years. The company plans to leverage the know-how of its Korean counterpart.

Affinity first purchased Burger King Korea for 210 billion won (US$185 million) in 2016. Since then the number of stores has increased from 240 to 300 with annual net profit of more than 8 billion won despite the overall decline in the industry.

The PEF plans to implement an automated self-ordering system already prevalent at Burger King Korea in the Japanese stores after acquisition. In addition, the company has decided to jointly purchase its ingredients such as beef from Australia in order to reduce operating costs. Based on this, the company intends to increase its number of stores by more than 200 in the next five years.

The initial investment is estimated to be around 50 billion won and Affinity is likely to sell the Korean and Japanese operations together in the future, the sources noted.

By Alex Lee (alexlee@heraldcorp.com)