The owners of the Starbucks franchise in New Zealand will buy the country’s struggling Burger King chains, the latter’s receivers announced today.
Brendon Gibson and Grant Graham of Calibre Partners, the receivers of Burger King, said they would sell Antares Restaurant Group - who own Burger King New Zealand - to Tahua Partners.
The purchase is subject to satisfying standard conditions, and a settlement is targeted to occur on October 30.
“We are working through the transition with the purchaser now,” Gibson said.
“This is an excellent outcome for the business, staff, landlords, suppliers and loyal Burger King guests and we would like to take the opportunity to thank all of those stakeholders for their support through what has been an unsettling last six months.
“Securing a going concern sale in the current environment is testament to the drive and commitment of Antares’ management team and all its employees.”
Burger King in New Zealand employs more than 1800 staff across 78 restaurants throughout the country.
Receiver Brendon Gibson says the company will continue supporting its 2000 workers through the Government’s wage subsidy scheme.
Antares was placed into receivership in mid-April under strain made worse by the Covid-19 lockdown. The restaurants had been closed since the Alert Level 4 lockdown on March 25.
Gibson told 1 NEWS at the time the main goal was to sell the business.
Burger King’s creditors included about 40 main food suppliers and utility providers, such as power.
“It did have its financial difficulty before Covid-19, but now we’re in a position where, circumstances as they are, we’ve got to try and find a solution in difficult times,” he said.
In late April, the company announced it would re-open Burger King restaurants as the country switched to Alert Level 3.
SHARE ME