Bain To Buy Domino's Japanese Franchisee

Bain Capital, a US private equity firm, announced that it would acquire Japanese firm Higa Industries Co., the Japan franchisee of Domino's Pizza. Bain will buy the company from Duskin Co., Daiwa SMBC Capital and Ernest Higa, the founder of Higa Industries. The transaction is Bain's second in Japan in about 2 months. The PE firm purchased Bellsystem24, a Japanese telemarketer, for $1 billion from Citigroup Inc. Higa operates 179 franchised Domino's Pizza stores in Japan. Bain owns a minority stake in Domino's Pizza in the United States. Bain bought a stake in Domino in 1988 and Domino went public in 2004.