Chicken chain, others see activity from lender GE Capital
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Ron Ruggless
GE Capital Franchise Finance has completed at least four lending deals with restaurant companies in the past several months, including the largest and most recent facility — a $25 million deal with Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers.
The new revolving credit facility with the Baton Rouge, La.-based quick-service chain refinanced and amended a $21.6 million term loan, according to a statement Tuesday from GE Capital’s bank affiliate, GE Capital Financial Inc.
Raising Cane’s has 110 restaurants in 16 states and plans to open an additional nine units by the end of the year, GE Capital said.
During the past month, Scottsdale, Ariz.-based GE Capital has released details of three deals with restaurant franchisee groups:
• Golden Corral: An $18.5 million credit facility for GC Partners Inc.’s store remodeling, new unit development and debt refinancing. GC Partners, based in Winston-Salem, N.C., has 11 Golden Corral units in Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina.
• Papa John’s Pizza: A $9.5 million deal with BAJCO Group to refinance existing debt. BAJCO, based in Niles, Ohio, owns 74 Papa John’s units in Florida, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
• Famous Dave’s of America: A $9 million deal with Blue Ribbon BBQ LLC to refinance existing debt and fund a partner buyout. Blue Ribbon, based in Walled Lake, Mich., operates six Famous Dave’s units in the Detroit area.
Contact Ron Ruggless at [email protected].
Follow him on Twitter: @RonRuggless
