Herbel Restaurants Ltd, Belfast, Northern Ireland, operator of KFC restaurant franchises, acquired Kram Restaurants Ltd, Bagshot, Surrey, England, operator of KFC restaurant franchises. Herbel Restaurants exercised a share option agreement put in place on the sale of some Kram stores to Herbel in 2010. Lloyds Bank Plc provided financing for this deal. Smith Cooper advised the seller.
Kram Restaurants Limited (“Kram”), which operates four Drive-Thru KFC outlets in the Bristol area, has been sold to the Herbel Group in a multimillion pound deal project-managed by Smith Cooper Corporate Finance.
This transaction represents the culmination of the Sellers’ plan to dispose of the restaurants operated by Kram over a five year period. The plan took five years to implement with Smith Cooper advising on the disposal of the trade and assets of five of Kram’s nine stores to Herbel, and the negotiation of a put and call option to sell the shares in Kram around five years later.
The transaction saw Kram’s principal owners, Mark and Hazel Hodding, retire from the KFC business that they have been involved with for nearly 25 years.
KFC is just one of the brands owned by Yum! Inc., a global organisation which also owns and operates the Pizza Hut Delivery and Taco Bell operations. There are over 800 KFC restaurants in the UK, run by the franchisor or by franchisees.
Mark Hodding said “when the time came to exit a business that we love and that has been a part of our life for 25 years we wanted top class, experienced advisors to ensure all went smoothly and that our business went to a good home. Smith Cooper fitted the requirement and the level of service and professionalism they provided together with their knowledge of the sector were crucial in the completion of the deal on time. We would have no hesitation in recommending them to others.”
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Completed:
Dec 14
Smith Cooper Team
John Farnsworth
