Burger King agrees $4bn sale to 3G Capital

Burger King has agreed to be acquired by 3G, an investment fund backed by three of Brazil's foremost businessmen, in a deal valued at $4bn including debt.

3G will buy the US burger chain's stock for $24 a share, a premium of 46 per cent over the company's closing share price before rumours spread of a pending deal, Burger King said in a statement on Thursday.

Burger King's stock surged 24 per cent to $23.39 in morning trading in New York.

The deal returns Burger King to private ownership for the second time in less than a decade.

While Burger King's would-be owner, a little-known investment vehicle based in New York, has a low Profile in the US, the firm is backed by a group of Brazilian entrepreneurs, collectively known as "the Trio".

Jorge Paulo Lemann, Marcel Telles and Carlos Sicupira - all billionaires - are best known for building the Brazilian brewery that eventually became InBev, which in 2008 bought Anheuser-Busch, the maker of Budweiser. The three remain on the AB InBev board.

Mr Lemann, the eldest of the three, was also one of the founders of Banco Garantia, the investment bank that was sold to Credit Suisse in 1998.

"They are the role models for a whole generation of entrepreneurs in Brazil," said one banker, describing them as "highly sophisticated" businessmen famed for their operating skills.

The deal to buy the burger chain, which was first reported by the New York Times, is the highest profile move by the three in the US to date. 3G has secured financing for the deal from JPMorgan Chase and Barclays Capital, Burger King said.

Alex Behring, a managing director at 3G who is involved in the bid for Burger King, is a long-time lieutenant of the men.

Burger King, which has more than 12,000 restaurants around the globe, has been battling ailing sales in the US and Canada this year, as high unemployment and weak consumer confidence has kept customers at home.

TPG, Goldman Sachs Capital Partners and Bain Capital bought Burger King for $1.5bn in 2002 from Diageo, the UK spirits group. The private equity groups embarked upon an aggressive strategy for the lossmaking restaurant chain, focusing on expansion in fast-growing markets such as China, Brazil and Russia.

While Burger King returned to the public markets in 2006, the troika of private equity firms still retain about a third of the company.

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