Billionaire Nelson Peltz may have thought he had the inside track to buy Wendy's (NYSE: WEN) since his Triarc Group already owns Arby's.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Peltz will have competition from a group including Thomas H. Lee Partners LP, Oaktree Capital, and First National Financial. The head of First National once ran the Carl's Jr. and Hardee's chains. And, a third group has come to the table, this one backed by Kelso & Co. and Oak Hill Capital Partners.
Unlike several private equity deals that are falling apart because of tight credit markets, the Wendy's deal looks like it may be done at a nice premium for shareholders. Wall Street anticipates that the company could go for $37 to $41 a share. Wendy's stock is under $34.
Why is this deal different from others? Perhaps because the most visible bidders have a great deal of experience in the fast food business. This may give them more confidence that they will know which parts of the company can be improved to yield better cash flow.
That makes Wendy's shareholders more fortunate than those in other companies being pursued for buy-outs.
Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-27-2007 @ 12:03PM
Miranda said...
Not only does Triarc own Arby's, but Peter Rothschild, the Chairman of Deerfield Triarc (Triarc's asset management business) is also a director at Wendy's (see article from NewsVisual: http://www.newsvisual.com/newsvisual/2007/07/triarc-and-wend.html ). Wouldn't this also be a pretty noteworthy connection as far as supporting Triarc's takeover plans?
9-27-2007 @ 5:55PM
Mike O said...
The Wendy's Franchisee would be the best move to take the company over. They the support of Dave's family which is imporant. Plus they would clean house and reverse all of the stupid things that have been done by David Near and company have done.
10-26-2007 @ 6:20PM
Dan said...
I think it is interesting that Wendy's has said that its board is evaluating three strategic options to improve Wendy’s performance: evolving the current strategic plan, changing its capital structure or a possible sale, merger or combination and the only one getting any air time is a sale to Nelson Peltz. How about the current management team that has been working hard on this turnaround for only 9 months and already showing great strides. Kerrii Anderson and her team have delivered 16 straight months of same store growth, appreciation in stock price, higher profits and positive earnings growth, and they are moving ahead with the second phase of their plan that makes a lot of sense. If the turnaround is already happening, it doesn't seem like killing that momentum is in the best interest of shareholders.