Report: Church's Chicken to be soldReport: Church's Chicken to be sold

Elissa Elan

ATLANTA Officials for Church’s Chicken on Friday would not confirm reports that the chain would be sold soon to another private-equity firm.

Arcapita Inc., a Bahrain-based private-equity firm and current owner of Church's franchisor Cajun Operating Co., hired Bank of America Merrill Lynch earlier this year to broker the sale of the chain. According to a Reuters report this week, the winning bid came from San Francisco-based Friedman Fleischer & Lowe.

Acall to Friedman Fleischer & Lowe was not returned by press time.

Reuters reported the deal for the parent of the 1,650-unit chicken chain is valued at more than $300 million. Arcapita acquired Cajun Operating Co. from Popeyes' parent AFC Enterprises Inc. in 2004 for $390 million following a five-month auction process.

Atlanta-based Church’s is known for its Southern-style chicken, corn on the cob and honey-butter biscuits.

The Church's Chicken chain had U.S. systemwide net sales of $868.2 million in 2008 from 232 company and 972 franchised restaurants. That was up 4.72 percent from 2007, primarily as a result of a 4.54-percent rise in estimated sales per unit and a net gain of eight additional restaurants.

Though it was unclear at press time what other revenue streams Cajun Operating Co. may have, it tallied 2008 revenues of about $270.0 million from sales at U.S. company restaurants, royalties from franchised U.S. restaurants and initial fees from U.S. franchisees.

In addition to Cajun Operating Co., Arcapita, which formerly was known as Crescent Capital, also owns a stake in Caribou Coffee Co.

Contact Elissa Elan at [email protected].