Sentinel Capital Partners has acquired Fazoli’s Group, an Italian fast casual franchisor and operator of Fazoli’s restaurants, from Sun Capital Partners.
Fazoli’s is a Italian fast casual dining concept that offers moderately priced Italian pasta entrees, sandwiches, pizza and salads. Fazoli’s has 213 franchised and company restaurants. The company was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in Lexington, KT (www.fazolis.com).
“Fazoli’s has consistently outperformed its competitors and will be a strong addition to our restaurant portfolio,” said John McCormack, a partner at Sentinel.
Sentinel’s restaurant portfolio is made up of more than 2,300 units operating in 61 countries and generates annual system-wide sales of almost $4 billion. The firm’s restaurant investments include Newk’s Eatery; TGI Fridays; Checkers; Huddle House; Border Foods (a franchisee in the Taco Bell system); Falcon Holdings (a franchisee in the Church’s Chicken system); and Southern California Pizza Company (a franchisee in the Pizza Hut system).
“Fazoli’s combines the strengths of the fast-casual, quick-service and full-service formats, which is a competitive differentiator and provides resilience during economic downturns. We are also impressed with Fazoli’s’ management team and look forward to working with them to drive future growth,” added Mr. McCormack.
Sentinel Capital Partners invests in middle market companies in the United States and Canada in partnership with management. The firm invests in management buyouts, recapitalizations, corporate divestitures, and going-private transactions of businesses with EBITDAs up to $65 million. Sentinel targets eight industry sectors: aerospace & defense, business services, consumer, distribution, food & restaurants, franchising, healthcare, and industrials. The firm is headquartered in New York (www.sentinelpartners.com).
“Our new partnership with Sentinel is an exciting move for us, and we plan to benefit from their investment experience in the restaurant sector,” said Carl Howard, CEO of Fazoli’s Group.
Duff & Phelps (www.duffandphelps.com) was the exclusive financial advisor to Fazoli’s and managed the entire sales process including the marketing, negotiation and due diligence phases of the transaction. The Duff & Phelps deal team supporting Sun Capital Partners in this transaction included Joshua Benn and Darren Gange.
© 2015 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 7-7-15
