CKE shareholders approve buyout
Carpinteria-based CKE Restaurants said June 30 that 76 percent of its shareholders approved a $649 million cash acquisition by an affiliate of New York-based private equity firm Apollo Management.
Shareholder approval was one of the final steps CKE, the parent company of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s fast food restaurants, needed to secure the deal, which will take the restaurant firm private. The company said June 30 that it still has some final closing conditions which need to be worked out before the deal is finalized.
Under the terms of the agreement, CKE stockholders will receive $12.55 per share in cash representing a 14 percent premium over an earlier offer that CKE accepted from Thomas H. Lee Partners, or THL.
CKE first had a buyout bid from THL in February, an announcement which triggered a bidding war between the two private equity firms. With a possible THL deal, CKE executives sought to reassure the company’s 179 employees on the South Coast that not much would change after a buyout. But leadership at Apollo has a history of replacing executives at their acquisitions, shaking up management at Linens ’n Things, Smart & Final and Vail Resorts after purchasing them.
