Aussie buyer tipped for Burger King

THE PRESS

DEAL CONFIRMED: Australian private equity firm Anchorage Capital Partners has bought the New Zealand Burger King franchise.

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Australian private equity firm Anchorage Capital Partners is buying the Burger King master franchise and 42 outlet stores from Tasman Pacific Foods, according to well-placed sources.

Reports have been around since November that Tasman Pacific Foods' New Zealand Burger King chain is on the block. The reports were denied by TPF.

But it is understood Anchorage is in the final stages of establishing an agreement to buy the Burger King franchise, with the price unknown.

Anchorage partner Michael Briggs said he could not comment in detail because of confidential agreements he had signed. "I don't think it's any secret that we are in fairly serious discussions [with Tasman Pacific]," he said. TPF director Mark Backhaus would not comment.

Several parties are believed to have done due diligence on the Burger King chain since it was put up for sale, including movie chain Reading Cinemas.

Sydney-based Anchorage was set up in 2007, evolving from Interbank Capital Partners, a boutique private equity investor.

Anchorage says it targets businesses with enterprise values between A$50 million and A$150m in the Australian, New Zealand and Asian markets. It likes established and underperforming companies, with high profit potential.

Anchorage invested A$7.3m in Bisalloy Steel Group, based in Western Australia, in January. The group also sold its investment in fruit company Golden Circle and received a 129 per cent return from the sale, following a share takeover by international food giant Heinz in December.

TPF bought the Hell Pizza chain for $15m in 2006, introduced efficiencies and cost-cutting but had to lower prices and suffered from the recession. It resold Hell to the business' Wellington founders, Callum Davies, Stu McMullin and Warren Powell, in May for a sum understood to be less than the amount it bought Hell for.

Tasman Pacific said after Hell's sale that it saw potential to expand the number of Burger King outlets.

- © Fairfax NZ News