MoFo Advises Affinity Equity Partners on Sale of Burger King Japan

Morrison Foerster (“MoFo”) is advising Affinity Equity Partners (“Affinity”) in connection with its sales and purchase agreement to fully divest its 100% stake in Burger King Japan Holdings Co., Ltd. (“BKJH”) to Private Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives.

Affinity is one of the largest independent private equity firms in Asia Pacific, investing in Asia Private Equity since 1998. Affinity has US$14 billion of assets and funds under management. Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) is one of the leading investors in alternatives globally, with over $500 billion in assets and more than 30 years of experience.

BKJH represents Affinity’s first investment in Japan and its first greenfield-format entry. At the time of Affinity’s investment in 2017, BKJH signed a Master Franchise Development Agreement, granting BKJH exclusive rights to own and operate Burger King® Restaurants in Japan. Since 2017, Affinity has supported BKJH scale and expand to over 311 locations, including 85 new store openings in 2025 alone. This transaction is one of the latest, high-profile private equity-led deals in Asia’s consumer sector this year, which also includes CPE’s joint venture with Burger King China, on which MoFo also advised.

The deal was announced on November 18, 2025, and closing of the sales and purchase agreement is subject to customary conditions precedent, including regulatory and franchisor approvals.

The deal team from MoFo’s Tokyo office was led by M&A/PE partner Gary Mitchell Smith, M&A partner Mitsutoshi Uchida, and M&A associates Yui Hirohashi and Yusaku Narita.

The wider team included: Antitrust and Competition partner Tomohiko Kimura, Tax partner Matthew Lau (Hong Kong), and M&A associates Karin Ito and Shun Moriyasu and TTG associate Agnes Petrucione.