The Longfort Group, a private investment firm backed by an undisclosed Asian family office, has completed an acquisition of Scoozi Italian Restaurant Ltd. in Thailand, marking its first acquisition in the South-East Asian country, it said today.
The deal is being done via a unit called L Concepts, Longfort's food and beverage investment platform, and continues the group's expansion in the Asian restaurant business. No financial details were disclosed.
Scoozi is an Italian craft pizza restaurant chain in Thailand with 24 branches located across the Great Bangkok area. Scoozi opened its first location in downtown Bangkok in 2004 and specializes in Neapolitan-style pizzas made in traditional wood-fired ovens. Scoozi operates both dine-in and delivery formats and is a household name for pizza lovers in Bangkok.
"We are excited about our foray into the Thai consumer market, especially through such an established platform as Scoozi," said TW Pang, chief executive of The Longfort Group. "The potential of the brand is enormous and we look forward to stewarding it for years to come."
Longfort has been actively pursuing direct investment opportunities in the restaurant sector since 2015 when it set up L Concepts, which is mandated to build a regional portfolio of unique restaurant brands. L Concepts currently owns and operates a collection of lifestyle concepts and restaurant brands including L'Usine, 'NAMO and Sizzlin' Steak.
The group, with offices in Malaysia and Vietnam, invests in listed and private equity deals of consumer-driven businesses in Asia. It has previously invested in food manufacturing, canned beverages, confectionery and dairy products.