Morgan Stanley is hungry for Australia's next fast food IPO
After finding immense investor appetite for Guzman y Gomez on the ASX, the investment bank is eager to serve up the next hot restaurant chain to the market.
In the middle of a conference dominated by public company executives and pundits, the decision by Morgan Stanley to pull the CEOs of three popular and private quick service restaurants up onto its largest stage was telling.
Showcasing El Jannah, Grill’d and Craveable Brands – the owner of Chargrill Charlie, Oporto and Red Rooster chains – to potential investors in the ballroom of the Sheraton Sydney made it clear, if it wasn't already, that the US investment bank's dealmakers are hungry for a piece of any upcoming IPO action.
Twelve months after Morgan Stanley played an integral role in Guzman y Gomez' highly successful float, this was the elephant in the room that even the panelists themselves had to acknowledge.
“I’m not selling my business but you guys are in the process of doing so I reckon,” Grill’d managing director Simon Crowe said at the Morgan Stanley Australia Summit addressing El Jannah CEO Brett Houdin. “Not that you’d tell me anything.”
