Chain’s largest franchise operator to pick up 30 restaurants in North Carolina
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Burger King units are changing hands amid two potential deals involving some of the burger chain’s largest franchise operators.
Syracuse, N.Y.-based Carrols Restaurant Group Inc. said last week it has exercised its first right of refusal to purchase 30 Burger King restaurants in North Carolina for about $20 million.
Carrols, which did not disclose the seller, said it plans to enter into sale-leaseback transactions for 10 of the properties, which will produce estimated proceeds of $13 million to $14 million.
The acquisition will expand Carrols’ presence in North Carolina, where it already operates 134 restaurants. Carrols is the largest Burger King franchisee in the world, with 581 restaurants systemwide.
Since raising about $67 million in equity capital earlier this year in a public offering, Carrols has been on a buying spree. The franchise operator expects to reach 670 units by the end of 2014.
Earlier this year, Carrols said it would purchase 64 Burger King units from Heartland Food LLC for about $18 million.
Carrols also picked up 21 units in the Rochester, N.Y., area and Western New York State from Kessler Group Inc., along with eight units in Pittsburgh and Fort Wayne, Ind.
In addition, Bloomberg has reported that Heartland, based in Downers Grove, Ill., has agreed to sell 260 units to Houston Foods Inc., a franchise group based in Texas.
The report cited unnamed sources. Heartland operates about 330 Burger King locations in the Midwest.
Neither Heartland nor Houston Foods could be reached for comment at press time.
According to Bloomberg, Blackstone Group L.P., which owns Heartland, agreed to sell the restaurants for less than $100 million in a move to cut its exposure to the sluggish quick-service segment.
However, Burger King reported last week an encouraging same-store sales increase of 3.7 percent in North America and 2.7 percent systemwide for July and August.
Contact Lisa Jennings at [email protected].
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