Latin America beckons for Burger King following £2.6 bn sale
Burger King, the US fast-food group, has agreed a $4bn (£2.6bn) takeover bid from 3G Capital, a little-known US investment group, backed by Brazilian investors.
It is thought that 3G Capital intends to expand the group further overseas, especially in Latin America, to make it a truly global concern. Presently, only 38 per cent of the group’s restaurants are outside of the US and Canada, and BigHospitality understands that the plan is to lift this to 60 per cent over the next five years.
The offer from 3G of $24 per share values the global burger chain at $4bn after including about $750m of debt.
The company, which has 12,150 restaurants, now has a 40-day “go shop” period in which to solicit offers, although the board has unanimously approved 3G’s approach.
Buyout
It will be the second time the company has been taken private after it was bought out of Diageo in 2002 for $1.5bn by a private equity consortium comprising Bain Capital, Goldman Sachs Capital Partners and Texas Pacific Group.
The business was listed on the US stock market as a separate entity in 2006, although the private equity groups still own about a third of the shares.
The investors behind 3G include Jorge Paulo Lemann, Marcel Telles and Carlos Sicupira – all Brazilian billionaires. Lemann is the third richest person in Brazil and number 48 in the world, according to Forbes.
Mark Stretton is editor of BigHospitality's sister publication M&C Report
