According to Nick Cole, the head of restaurant and hospitality finance at Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, the number of U.S. restaurants has not yet rebounded to pre-pandemic levels and is still significantly lower than what it was before COVID-19.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) expanded its restaurant-finance platform to cover hotel franchises with the hiring of two veteran bankers to its restaurant and hospitality finance team, which is part of MUFG’s corporate and investment banking division.
With rising commodity prices, workforce shortages and higher expenditures to attract labor, the restaurant industry will face continued margin contraction and, consequently, lower M&A volume in Q1/22, according to Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group’s restaurant finance group.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group hired nine bankers for the restaurant finance group of its corporate and investment banking division, including Nick Cole and Quinn Hall as managing directors.
Wells Fargo has formed a Hotel Franchise Finance division and hired Scott Andrews to lead the unit. Andrews previously ran the middle market Hotel Franchise Finance division at GE Capital.