NEW YORK, September 22, 2005 - Castle Harlan, Inc., the New York-based private equity investment firm, announced today it had completed the acquisition of The Restaurant Company (TRC), the operator and franchisor of 483 family restaurants under the Perkins Restaurant & Bakery name. The transaction was valued at approximately $245 million.
The company was purchased by Castle Harlan Partners IV, L.P., a $1.2 billion investment fund organized and managed by Castle Harlan. The firm had announced that it had agreed to acquire the company September 2.
TRC has 152 company-operated restaurants and 331 franchised restaurants in 33 states and five Canadian provinces. The company also owns Foxtail Foods, which has three manufacturing plants that make pies, cookies and cookie dough, muffins and batter and other similar products for Perkins restaurants and third party food-service distributors.
TRC had total revenues over the past 12 months of approximately $348 million and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of approximately $37.3 million.
The sellers were Don Smith, who had bought an interest in the company in 1985 and who has now retired as TRC's chairman and chief executive officer, and BancBoston Ventures. Smith has been succeeded as chairman and CEO by Joseph Trungale, who had been president and chief operating officer of the company.
Smith continues to own a minority stake in the company.
Castle Harlan, founded in 1987, invests in controlling interests in the buyout and development of middle-market companies in North America and Europe. Its team of nine managing directors, including its founders, has completed 45 acquisitions with a total value in excess of $7 billion since the firm's inception. The firm traces its roots to the start of the institutionalized private-equity business in the late 1960s.
Castle Harlan also invests in Australia, New Zealand and the Australasian region through its Sydney-based affiliate, CHAMP Private Equity, which is one of Australia's oldest and largest private equity firms.
Castle Harlan's portfolio companies, which employ more than 31,000 people, include Ames True Temper, a leading manufacturer of lawn and garden tools and accessories; Horizon Lines, one of the largest U.S. container shipping companies, and Advanced Accessory Systems, the largest manufacturer of automotive roof racks and tow systems in North America and Europe.