JEDDAH, 20 January 2003 — Jamil Fakhry, CEO of New Food Technology Holding sal (NFT), recently appointed BMG Financial Advisors as its exclusive financial adviser to undertake several tasks related to the establishment of Dip’N Crunch Arabia. These include, but are not limited to, approaching local, regional, strategic, and financial investors to take up equity in the company. NFT is the developer and operator of the Dip’N Crunch® fastfood chain concept.
BMG’s assignment will include several tasks including advising on NFT’s growth strategy, assisting in formalizing a business plan, structuring the financing transaction as well as advising on the placement efforts. Fakhry has identified the fastfood business in the Middle East as an area that has offered, and will continue to offer, the prospects of high investment returns. With the explosive growth in fast-food demand in Lebanon and the Middle East, established outlets of Dip’N Crunch® have proven to be highly profitable, due to limited requirements of capital commitments and short pay back periods.
New Food Technology Holding recently completed a first round of private equity placement for $500,000. This successful equity raise will be used to further develop and enhance the Dip’N Crunch® franchise offering, as well as complete the launch of the first regional outlets in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait and prepare the company for its controlled expansion strategy.
NFT Holding’s goal is to expand by creating a regional franchise for Dip’N Crunch. Specifically, the management intends to develop an international franchise starting with the MENA and Gulf areas.
“The client is interested in expanding through wholly owned outlets and on a franchise basis,” said Samer Salam from BMG Financial Advisors. “Technical, market and financial feasibility studies have been performed to show the economic logic for Dip’N Crunch as a long-term viable investment.
The client wants to build on that by mandating BMG, to advise on the organizing, structuring and arranging of the finances for the expansion process,” he added.
New Food Technology sal (“NFT Lebanon”), 99 percent owned by NFT Holding sal, is a Lebanese based joint-stock company that specializes in fastfood.
In May 1999, after extensive product and concept testing, the company implemented a new project. The concept operates under the brand name Dip’N Crunch. One hundred percent Lebanese in concept, Dip’N Crunch is a unique fastfood eatery, which mainly offered multi-flavored French fries with a variety of dips when it first opened
Today Dip’N Crunch provides a unique alternative choice in the fastfood segment with an original menu of “Dippable ‘n Crunchable” food, resulting in a product line that is exclusive to Dip ‘n Crunch outlets. Trade mark registrations have been made to protect the intellectual property in Lebanon and other countries abroad.
BMG Financial Advisors is a dynamically structured financial advisory firm that specializes in a broad range of financial advisory services focusing on the Kingdom and other GCC markets.
Based in Jeddah, BMG offers counseling and management to large and medium size businesses on mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructurings, initial public offerings and other investment opportunities. With its in-house expert financial advisors as well as its strategic alliances with world-class financial institutions, BMG is well positioned to evaluate investment opportunities, structure complex transactions and arrange their funding through Saudi and international banks.
