The fast food restaurant chain Arby’s is purchasing Buffalo Wild Wings Inc., a franchise of sports bars with wide-ranging chicken flavors, for roughly $2.44 billion, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The deal was a result of a months long proxy fight and takeover of the chain sports bar by an investor seeking a change in the company’s management. With Buffalo Wild Wings debt included, the deal is around $2.9 billion, according to Reuters.
Buffalo Wild Wings has struggled recently under a combination of rising chicken prices and falling attendance across its 1,200 locations worldwide. The chain’s stock value rose 6.5 percent after the deal with Arby’s was secured, and 30 percent since Roark Capital Group Inc., which controls Arby’s, announced its interest in the deal Nov. 13.
The deal will take Buffalo Wild Wings from a publicly traded company back to private ownership.
The agreement is the latest in a trend of private equity firms buying out chain restaurants. Ruby Tuesday, Panera Bread and Krispy Kreme Doughnuts have all been bought out within the past two years, Reuters reports.
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