Domino’s takes a slice of the German pizza market with $86m deal to buy Joey’s Pizza
Germany's largest pizza chain, Joey's Pizza, is being bought jointly by the owners of Domino's Pizza in Australia and the UK.
London-listed Domino's Pizza Group and Sydney-listed Domino's Pizza Enterprises are entering into a deal worth an estimated $86m (£57.2m).
Germany has the fourth largest pizza market in the world, and taking ownership of Joey's will help the two firms firmly establish themselves there. The chain has 212 stores across the country and hits annual sales of €143m (£103.9m).
The deal is not completely evenly split, however, with the Australian business set to take control of two thirds of the chain and the UK firm walking away with the remaining third.
For the Domino's Enterprises, the purchase will push the total number of global stores up to 1,870. Shares in the company shot up more than 12 per cent following the announcement.
Don Meij, chief executive of Domino's Pizza Enterprises, was optimistic about the opportunities the deal would bring:
The acquisition of the market-leading Joey's Pizza business provides immediate scale and marketing presence which we can build from.
This isn't the first time Domino's has entered into the German market – it already runs some operations there.