Singapore fried chicken chain 4Fingers buys 50% stake in Australia-based eatery Mad Mex

SINGAPORE fried chicken chain 4Fingers announced it has acquired a 50 per cent stake in Mad Mex Fresh Mexican Grill (Mad Mex), an Australian brand of Mexican eateries, for an undisclosed sum.

The move marks 4Fingers' first step towards its "aggregation of high quality complementary portfolio of food and beverage concepts with global scalability", according to its statement.

As part of the partnership, 4Fingers will initially establish Mad Mex's presence in South-east Asia and expects to open a number of outlets in Singapore and Malaysia in the next 12 months. 4Fingers has already shortlisted a number of potential locations in both countries for Mad Mex's rollout, but did not give specific details.

This brand acquisition strategy will enable the group to continue to "aggressively scale up its management bandwidth and further capitalise on supply chain, menu innovation, shared services and other scale economies", said a statement by 4Fingers.

Mad Mex is said to be a leading quick service restaurant (QSR) brand in Australia, according to the Roy Morgan Customer Satisfaction Survey March 2018. It also has a strong presence in New Zealand, specialising in authentic Mexican fare synonymous with healthy and fresh food.

Clovis Young, Mad Mex's founder and former majority shareholder, will remain as chief executive officer of Mad Mex and retain a 50 per cent stake in the business. Mr Young will continue to lead Mad Mex in its next stage of growth, including its expansion outside of Australia and New Zealand.

Vijay Sethu, director of 4Fingers, said: "Mad Mex is the second key brand in the 4Fingers Group. We are currently on the lookout for a third brand to complete this platform; a brand with similar characteristics to 4Fingers and Mad Mex - strong, established, profitable and fast-growing that is easily scalable and has global potential."

Together, 4Fingers and Mad Mex operate over 100 outlets across Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia and Thailand. The group projects total system-wide revenues of over S$120 million for fiscal 2019.