Burger King Was Sold For $3.26 Billion
Posted on 03. Sep, 2010 by Dahlia Lithwick in Business, Headlines
Burger King Was Sold For $3.26 Billion – It has been announced that Burger King has been sold to a private equity firm 3G Capital in a deal valued at $3.26 billion. The fast food chain has 12,100 branches worldwide. It had been the subject of takeover rumors for days.
In 2006, Burger King floated on Wall Street four years after being bought by a group of private equity firms. The group composed of TPG Capital, Bain Capital and Goldman Sachs Funds still owns 31 percent of Burger King shares.
The companies said in a statement that the deal represented a 46 percent premium to Burger King’s share price before reports of a possible takeover surfaced.
On the brighter side, 3G will also take on Burger King’s debt, valuing the deal at $4 billion in total. Burger King is the second largest hamburger chain after McDonald’s. It has struggled during the recession and last week forecast weak demand for the rest of the year. Like in the case of Miami-based Burger King’s core customers are mostly young men aging between 18 and 34. This age bracket is badly affected by unemployment.
In the meantime, it is still unclear what plans 3G has for Burger King. There was no mention of strategy in its takeover announcement. Under the terms of the deal with 3G, The chairman and chief executive of Burger King John Chidsey will become a co-chairman of the board. However, the other co-chairman is Alex Behring, managing partner of US-based 3G.