According to reports from Reuters and Thomson Reuters Private Equity Hub, Cajun Operating Co, franchisor of Church's Chicken, has been sold to private equity firm Friedman Fleischer & Lowe. Bahrain-based investment bank Arcapita posted the sale in an online auction, with San Francisco-based Friedman Fleischer selected as the winning bidder from an initial 10 buyout suitors.
Reuters reported that the deal, set to close in early July, is valued at more than $300 million, though an exact price could not be determined. Arcapita bought Church's Chicken in 2004 for $390 million from AFC Enterprises, the parent company of Popeye's Chicken. The company has more than $1 billion in revenue and more than 1,500 locations, 400 of them overseas.
Arcapita, Friedman Fleischer and Church's Chicken did not return calls for comment.
