Japanese Cash Handling Giant Makes $223M Investment In French QSR Self-Service Firm

February 25, 2020 by Dave Haynes

A Japanese firm that specializes in currency and coin processing evidently sees a QSR future that is increasingly cashless, responding by investing in a French company that is seeing a lot of success in self-ordering, cashless kiosks.

Glory Global Solutions (International) Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of GLORY Ltd., has invested $223 million USD into Acrelec, which has some 40,000 devices out in the field, notably in QSR giants like McDonald’s and Burger King.

Along with those self-service ordering stations you see on floor to ceiling poles and on walls, Acrelec also has a digital signage CMS tuned to digital menu boards, and does indoor and outdoor display hardware.

Acrelec, says the PR, now welcomes a partnership with Glory, a 100-year-old industrial leader in cash management as they share the same ambitious and long-term vision. Glory works in the financial, retail, cash center and gaming industries and provides Acrelec, as well as a wide range of other customers, with cash automation technologies and process engineering services that optimize the handling, movement and management of cash.

Jacques Mangeot, Co-CEO of Acrelec commented, “Today’s investment by Glory will power the next exciting step for our company and represents a great opportunity for our customers and our team. After many years of effort to answer in-store digital needs, we are ready to launch the next step in our innovative next generation ‘’smart-store’’ solutions. Our stylish, high-quality hardware will benefit from a complete suite of innovative AI software that increase revenues and leverage speed of service.”

Commenting about the investment, Akihiro Harada, Chief Executive Officer at Glory Global Solutions said, “We have been working with the Acrelec team for a number of years and we recognised that there was a strong fit in our cultures and ambitions as well as complementary solutions that we bring to market.  We see an increasing trend where consumers want to take more control over their in-store shopping and dining experiences.   Acrelec offers consumers this control, through personally and contextually responsive self-service solutions.

“Our investment in Acrelec will help accelerate their pace of innovation to capitalize on this trend.   We will also work together to ensure continued choice in customer payment, including the integration of Glory’s cash automation solutions to extend the range of payment options for consumers using Acrelec self-order and pay kiosks.”

Acrelec says it will continue to serve its customers with its existing management team and employees, as well as its brands, research centres and factories around the world.

Glory and Acrelec are convinced that this stand-alone strategy, based on 15 years of proven continuous growth, is the key to success for both companies. Moreover, Glory will boost Acrelec by helping to elevate sales and enhance services worldwide. This investment is subject to review by Acrelec’s employee representatives, and applicable competition authorities.

I know precious little about either company, but a $220+ million investment is significant in a sector where most of the investment activity is a fraction of that.

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