Roark Capital Makes Offer to Buy Buffalo Wild Wings
November 13 2017 - 5:00PM
Dow Jones News
By Dana Mattioli
Buffalo Wing Wings Inc. has received a takeover bid valued at
more than $2.3 billion from private-equity firm Roark Capital
Group, according to people familiar with the matter.
Roark made an offer of more than $150 a share in recent weeks,
one of the people said. Buffalo Wild Wings shares traded late
Monday at $117.30, giving it a market value of $1.84 billion.
Investment bankers at Barclays PLC are working with Roark, while
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is advising Buffalo Wild Wings, the people
said.
Minneapolis-based Buffalo Wild Wings is a purveyor of chicken
wings, beer and other bar snacks at more than 1,200 locations
world-wide. The company was founded in 1982 and went public in
2003.
Buffalo Wild Wings has been hurt by increasing chicken prices
and slumping traffic in its restaurants and had been under attack
from Marcato Capital Management LP. The activist investor had
pushed the company to franchise more stores, boost profit margins,
increase sales and replace its chief executive.
In June, Buffalo Wild Wings shareholders voted in Marcato's
founder and two of its nominees to the company's board. Chief
Executive Sally Smith announced she would retire by the end of the
year.
The stock, which had already been under pressure, has fallen
more since then. Even when it had been above $150 a share, Marcato
argued that it was well undervalued. So it isn't clear how
receptive the company will be to a proposal around that level.
Roark focuses on franchise-based companies and has investments
in Arby's, Carvel, Auntie Anne's Pretzels and Carl's Jr.
There has been a spate of restaurant consolidation in the last
year. In April European investment fund JAB Holding Co. agreed to
buy Panera Bread for roughly $7 billion. Just last week, JAB agreed
to buy Au Bon Pain.
Roark had been a contender to buy fried-chicken restaurant
Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen Inc. earlier this year, but lost out to
Restaurant Brands International Inc.
--David Benoit contributed to this article.
Write to Dana Mattioli at dana.mattioli@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 13, 2017 16:45 ET (21:45 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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