Checkers Drive-In Restaurants acquired by Oak Hill Capital

Financed via a partnership structure that includes equity investments from the incoming management team, this leveraged buyout officially transfers full control of Checkers Drive-In Restaurants Inc. to Oak Hill Capital Partners. Announced on March 23, 2017, the definitive agreement establishes an enterprise value of $500M–1.5bn for the transaction. The capital injection facilitates the complete exit of Sentinel Capital Partners, the historical private equity owner of Checkers Drive-In Restaurants Inc. Prior to this acquisition, Checkers Drive-In Restaurants Inc. demonstrated strong financial momentum, recording a 3.2% growth in same-store sales during the preceding year and a 3.5% increase during the early months of 2017. The strategic rationale articulated by Oak Hill Capital Partners focuses on deploying fresh institutional capital to expand the quick-service concepts across available whitespace locations throughout the United States. By partnering directly with Checkers Drive-In Restaurants Inc. Chief Executive Officer Rick Silva, Oak Hill Capital Partners intends to capture additional market share within the highly competitive restaurant segment. To execute this middle-market buyout, Sentinel Capital Partners and Checkers Drive-In Restaurants Inc. mandated the investment banks Piper Jaffray and North Point Advisors to act as joint financial advisors throughout the negotiation process. Legal structuring for the selling entities was exclusively managed by the specialized corporate law firm Kirkland & Ellis, LLP.