CKE Inc., parent company to the Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s quick-service restaurant chains, registered late Thursday for a $100 million initial public offering of stock.
In filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Carpinteria, Calif.-based company said it intends to list its stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “CK.” Net proceeds would be applied toward debt and for general corporate purposes, the company said.
Both the size of the offering and the estimated offering price have not been determined.
The two restaurant chains are owned by Columbia Lake Acquisition Holdings Inc., an affiliate of private-equity firm Apollo Management, which acquired the brands’ then parent company, CKE Restaurants Inc. for about $1 billion, including debt, in 2010. Prior to that deal, CKE Restaurants had been a public company for 29 years.
Apollo kept the company’s management team, with current chief executive Andrew Puzder.
CKE is not the only restaurant company looking at an IPO this year. Other chains that have filed for IPOs include the parent companies of Outback Steakhouse, Joe’s Crab Shack and Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steakhouse. Burger King is also looking to return to the New York Stock Exchange.
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For its fiscal year ended Jan. 30, CKE reported a net loss of $6.3 million, compared with a loss of $35.4 million the prior year. Corporate revenue totaled $1.3 billion, a decrease of 3.8 percent compared with fiscal 2011.
At the end of the fourth quarter, CKE operated or franchised 3,243 restaurants, including 1,313 Carl’s Jr. units and 1,921 Hardee’s restaurants in 42 states and 25 foreign countries. The company also holds nine locations of secondary brand Green Burrito.
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