McWin closes EUR 500m restaurant fund backed by ADIA

Wahida Ahmed
03 August 2022

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Food specialist sponsor McWin Partners has closed a EUR 500m dedicated restaurant fund with the backing of a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA).

McWin Restaurant Fund (MRF) has held a first and final close, with scope to add another EUR 100m if needed, Henry McGovern, co-founder at the sponsor, told Unquote.

Goodwin provided legal advice on the fundraise.

MRF is the third fund raised by the Czech Republic-headquartered sponsor, bringing its total capital managed to more than EUR 1bn. McWin Food Ecosystem Fund 1 is expected to close at EUR 300m in Q3 2022. It was launched in September 2021 and held a first close in December 2021, thus far it has raised just below its EUR 300m hard-cap, according to McGovern.

McWin Food Tech Fund 1 launched last month with a target size of EUR 250m and will begin fundraising next month with a first close pencilled in for December 2022, said McGovern.

Investors
The subsidiary of ADIA is the primary and sole LP in MRF. "The ADIA recognised that they ought to move quickly in this disruptive market and they were impressed by the fact we raised and deployed our first fund within a year," said McGovern. The sponsor could not invest in larger companies with its first fund due to the smaller ticket size, so it seized the opportunity to invest in larger companies with the new fund, said McGovern.

McGovern told Unquote that "a number of our LPs liked our first fund and recognised there are a lot of opportunities in the restaurant space."

McWin's team is led by McGovern, founder of AmRest Holdings, a Spanish casual dining chain, and Steven Winegar, shareholder and senior executive of Zena Group and founder of Restauravia Grupo Empresarial. As they had a non-compete agreement with AmRest previously, the team started off investing in food tech, McGovern said.

Investments
MRF expects to co-invest with other VC and PE firms. It will mainly buy majority shareholdings and start off in partnership position with the company, said McGovern.

The fund will invest in brands and large-cap restaurant groups with EV of around EUR 300m-1bn, providing a ticket size of at least EUR 100m, said McGovern. The sponsor has experience in the food services sector with investments such as Burger King Germany, UK-based Gail's and Vapiano, according to the press release.

European companies will be the primary focus of the fund but it can also look outside of Europe, excluding the US, said McGovern. It will target five deals over a four year investment period, he added.

MRF will sign its first deal this summer, said McGovern, adding further that the sponsor has an active pipeline.

McWin will help portfolio companies reach the next level of growth by supporting their digitisation and internationalisation. This includes supporting companies to adapt foodservice models to changing consumer habits, according to the press release.

People
McWin Partners – Henry McGovern (co-founder), Henry McGovern (co-founder).