Norton Rose Fulbright has advised London-listed Domino’s Pizza Group (DPG) on the establishment of a strategic joint venture (German JV) with Australian company Domino’s Pizza Enterprises (DPE).

The deal involved the German JV acquiring (i) Joey’s Pizza, Germany’s largest pizza chain for up to €79 million; (ii) the master franchise rights for the Domino’s brand in Germany from DPG; and (iii) up to 15 existing DPG stores in Germany. In addition, DPG will receive a fee of up to €25 million from DPE for giving German JV market access rights to Germany.

DPG is a FTSE 250 corporate with a market cap of £1.6 billion. DPG owns the Domino’s franchise rights in the UK, Ireland, Switzerland and Germany. DPE is an Australian listed company which owns the Domino’s franchise rights in Australia, France, Belgium, Netherlands and Japan.

The cross-border transaction was led from London by corporate relationship partner Ian Lopez. Ian was assisted by senior associate James Baillieu, associate Alexander Green, trainee solicitor Anna Budgett and of counsel Julie Keefe. The Norton Rose Fulbright team also included partner Andrew Roycroft (tax) and partner Catrina Smith (employment). German law advice was provided by partners Andreas Börner and Heiko Bertelmann (corporate), Katrin Scheicht (employment), Uwe Eppler (tax) and Maren Stölting (real estate) of the firm’s Hamburg and Munich offices.