Diversified Restaurant Holdings acquired by Icv Partners

ICV Partners completed the acquisition of Diversified Restaurant Holdings on 12 March 2020, in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $100–350M including assumed indebtedness and transaction expenses. Common shareholders received 1.05 dollars per share and the company was delisted from Nasdaq. Diversified Restaurant Holdings operates sports bars under the Buffalo Wild Wings brand as one of that chain’s principal franchise partners, holding no brand of its own. It funds and operates the establishments, employs the staff and carries the property obligations, remitting royalties to the franchisor. The estate comprised 64 restaurants across five states at completion. The transaction was structured alongside two others. JK&T Wings, in which the acquirer had invested in October 2019 and which then operated 42 restaurants principally in Michigan, sold the Florida and Massachusetts establishments to Inspire Brands, the owner of the Buffalo Wild Wings brand, and entered an agreement to develop fifteen further sites in territories agreed with the franchisor. Combining the two holdings produced the largest franchise operator of the brand, with more than 80 restaurants across five states under common ownership, led by JK&T chief executive Kent Ward and president Brian Carmody, both of whom remained invested. Scale determines what a franchise operator is offered, since the franchisor grants development territories to partners it judges capable of building and running them to standard, which is what the fifteen-store agreement reflects and what a smaller operator would not obtain. Duff & Phelps advised Diversified Restaurant Holdings as exclusive financial adviser, with Dykema as legal counsel, while DLA Piper advised ICV Partners.