"Through Three-Way Meetings Until 10 p.m." H&Q Pulls Out All the Stops for Year-End Closing of Five Guys [fn Market Watch]

[Financial News] H&Q Equity Partners, a subsidiary of domestic private equity fund manager H&Q Korea, is pulling out all the stops to acquire Five Guys by the end of the year. Given the complexities of a cross-border M&A deal, even the three-way meetings required for the transaction have been held from 10 p.m., underscoring the extraordinary difficulty of the process.
After Hanwha Galleria selected H&Q as the preferred bidder for Five Guys in December 2025, the parties renewed the existing memorandum of understanding in June after it expired. Having confirmed Hanwha's commitment, H&Q plans to make every effort to complete the deal despite its challenges.
According to investment banking industry sources on the 29th, H&Q Equity Partners has selected Taepyeang as its legal adviser and Samil PricewaterhouseCoopers as its accounting adviser for the acquisition of Five Guys from FG Korea, the brand's operating company under Hanwha Galleria. The contract is expected to be signed in late November, with deal closing estimated for mid-to-late December, two to three weeks after the signing. Delaying the deal beyond this year would require another review of the financial statements, reducing the likelihood of completion.
IB industry sources said there are no disagreements between H&Q and Hanwha over key matters such as valuation. However, technical delays have arisen as lawyers for both sides exchange drafts and discuss wording and other aspects of the contract. Even arranging a conference call to address unresolved issues is difficult, as the parties must schedule it a week in advance.
A senior IB industry official explained, "There are many legal and tax matters to check, and several countries besides Korea are involved. Given that H&Q needed time for funding, it can be said that work on signing the deal contract began in July or August, after the second MOU. Considering this, even if the deal closes in December, the cross-border M&A will have been completed in just six months."
Five Guys is the brand whose introduction to Korea was led by Kim Dong-seon, the third son of Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-yeon and the president overseeing future strategy at Hanwha M&S. The brand opened its first store in Seoul's Gangnam district in June 2023. FG Korea, the target of the sale, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hanwha Galleria and operates the Five Guys business in Korea.
H&Q and Hanwha are discussing key transaction terms, including FG Korea's overall enterprise value, the final purchase price, its contractual relationship with Five Guys' U.S. headquarters, and plans for future store expansion.
The market had previously estimated FG Korea's transaction price at roughly 60 billion to 70 billion won, but Hanwha Galleria has maintained that the specific sale price and terms have not yet been finalized. Hanwha Galleria is known to have invested approximately 20 billion won when it brought Five Guys to Korea.
FG Korea established the Japanese subsidiary FG Japan G.K. last year, secured 100% ownership and invested 4.92 billion won. When H&Q was selected as the preferred bidder, it was also known to have viewed the growth potential of the Japanese market, in addition to the Korean business, as a key rationale for the acquisition.
Another IB industry source added, "In particular, because Five Guys was brought to Korea by Hanwha Galleria under a contract with its U.S. headquarters, the transfer of the contract and whether the business rights can be maintained after management control passes to H&Q Equity Partners are expected to be prerequisites for expanding the Japanese business."
[email protected] Kang Gu-gwi Reporter