Frisch’s goes private in $174.5M dealFrisch’s goes private in $174.5M deal

Frisch's Restaurants Inc. shareholders approved Monday the $174.5 million merger deal with a new private-equity firm, NRD Partners I LP.

The Cincinnati-based restaurant company, which operates Frisch’s Big Boy units in the Midwest, agreed in May to the sale for $34 a share. Following Monday’s market close, Frisch’s shares are no longer traded, and the company will be delisted Sept. 4 from the New York Stock Exchange, the company said.

"We are delighted to have the acquisition finalized,” Aziz Hashim, NRD CEO, said in a statement, “and we are looking forward to taking one of America's most iconic and adored family restaurant brands into a very bright future.”

Craig F. Maier, who will step down as president and CEO of Frisch’s, said, “This is an exciting day for Frisch's, and we are very pleased that our stockholders, through the exercise of their vote, have shown substantial support for the board's decision to accept NRD's offer.”

Karen Maier, vice president of marketing, has also said she will retire. The Maiers intend to remain franchisees of the brand, they said earlier. Craig Maier has been CEO since 1989, and his family had been at the helm of the company for 76 years, since its founding in 1939.

Hashim launched NRD Partners to acquire brands that can be franchised. The Frisch’s deal is the first major acquisition by NRD, which is targeting small and mid-sized franchisors. The fund plans to use its leaders’ expertise to grow the brands.

Frisch’s operates 95 company-owned locations and has 26 franchised units. The company owns the rights to the name “Frisch’s,” and owns the “Big Boy” trademark in Kentucky, Indiana, and most of Ohio and Tennessee.

Same-store sales rose 4 percent in the first nine months of the company’s fiscal year ended March 10, to $161.7 million, from $155.6 million the previous year. Net earnings for the first nine months were $7.4 million, a 25-percent increase from the previous year. Same-store sales rose 4.8 percent in the third quarter.

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