Burger King parent company, Restaurant Brands International, announced Tuesday the acquisition of the company’s largest Burger King franchisee, Carrols Restaurant Group, for $9.55 per share, or an aggregate total enterprise value of approximately $1 billion in an all-cash transaction.
Carrols Restaurant Group currently owns 1,022 Burger King restaurants across 23 states, as well as 60 Popeyes restaurants. Restaurant Brands International will acquire the company’s issued and outstanding shares that were not already held by RBI or its affiliates. In the last fiscal year, Carrols’ Burger King restaurants generated approximately $1.8 billion in system sales for the year ended Sept. 30, 2023.
“Carrols has demonstrated strong and improving restaurant operations over the years,” Tom Curtis, president of Burger King U.S. and Canada said in a statement. “This acquisition is an exciting accelerator to our ‘Reclaim the Flame’ plan that is focused on relentlessly pursuing a better experience for our guests.”
Restaurant Brands International’s plan is to quickly remodel these 1,022 restaurants over the next five years and then sell them back to local franchisees to own manage moving forward.
“Today’s announcement is a testament to our more than 24,000 Carrols team members who have helped drive the company to record levels of profitability over the past 12 months,” Deborah Derby, president and CEO of Carrols, said in a statement. “These results have allowed us, through this transaction, to deliver immediate and certain value to Carrols shareholders at an attractive premium to the Company's current and historical share prices. Additionally, we believe our team members will now have additional opportunities as part of the greater RBI family – in our office, in the field and especially in our restaurants, including for long-time managers who may want to become franchisees themselves.”
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