Carrols Restaurant Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:TAST) announced that on September 18, 2014 it exercised its right of first refusal to purchase 30 Burger King restaurants in eastern North Carolina under the same terms and conditions of an existing purchase and sale agreement between the sellers and an unrelated third party. The total purchase price is approximately $20 million payable in cash at closing, and the assets to be purchased include 12 fee-owned properties. The Company anticipates that subsequent to closing it will market and enter into sale/leaseback transactions for 10 of the fee-owned properties for total estimated proceeds of $13 million to $14 million.
Daniel T. Accordino, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer said, “The addition of these 30 restaurants further expands our presence in North Carolina, where we currently operate 134 Burger King restaurants, and provides us with a stronger foothold in the eastern portion of the state. Since raising equity capital earlier this year in a public offering, we have made a series of strategic acquisitions, and to date, completed the purchase of 29 restaurants. The expected closing of this transaction, along with the anticipated completion of our previously announced purchase of 64 restaurants from Heartland Food LLC, will bring our 2014 acquisition activity to over 120 restaurants and our restaurant count to more than 670 by year-end.”
Accordino concluded, “We are successfully executing on our acquisition strategy and believe that the leveraging of our operating and P&L disciplines will enhance shareholder value.”
The transaction is subject to certain customary closing conditions and is expected to be completed in early October.
