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The Whopper Goes Public

Finding itself smack dab in the middle of a uber-competitive landscape, as well as burdened with sizable debt, fast food legend Burger King filed its S-1 yesterday:

Burger King expects to raise as much as $400 million in the first initial public offering in the company's 52-year history, according to documents filed late Thursday afternoon with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Even before the public offering, Burger King Holdings will pay off $367 million in dividends Tuesday to three private equity firms that own the Miami-Dade fast-food chain, according to the registration statement filed with the SEC.

The offering provides the beginning of an exit strategy for Texas Pacific Group, Bain Capital and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners. The firms purchased Burger King in Dec. 2002 from Diageo for $1.5 billion, as the fast-food chain was struggling with declining sales and profitability amid a price war with its competitors. Burger King did not disclose the amount of shares to be offered and at what price. The SEC filing also didn't include a date for the IPO or what percentage of the company's shares would be included in the offering.

Burger King Holdings said in the filing that it posted revenues of $1.94 billion and earnings of $47 million for the fiscal year ending June 30, compared to revenues of $1.75 billion and earnings of $5 million for the previous year. The company rang up revenues of $1.02 billion and earnings of $49 million for the six months ending Dec. 30, compared to $969 million in revenues and $45 million in earnings the previous year.

The Whopper will trade under the symbol "BKC."

posted by Catablast! Media Group @ 1:49 PM