Arby’s restaurant owner Roark Capital Group will buy Buffalo Wild Wings for $2.4 billion, months after an activist investor won seats on the restaurant’s board following a bitter proxy fight.
The private equity firm will buy Buffalo Wild Wings (BWLD) for $157 per share, representing a premium of 7.2% to the chicken-wing restaurant’s Monday’s close.
The shares were up 6.4% at $155.80 in premarket trading on Tuesday.
Read: Buffalo Wild Wings’ CEO Retires Following Investor Pressure
The offer is a 34% premium to the stock price on Nov. 13, the last trading day before media reports said that Roark had made a takeover offer of more than $150 per share.
Including debt, the deal is valued at about $2.9 billion.
Following the closing of the deal, expected during the first quarter of 2018, Buffalo Wild Wings will become a privately held unit of Arby’s and operate as an independent brand.
Activist hedge fund Marcato Capital Management, which had put pressure on the company to pursue strategies to boost its stock price, said it would vote for the deal. Marcato won three seats on the company’s board in June.
Read: Tim Hortons Thinks the World Needs a Latte Flavored Like Buffalo Wings
Barclays served as financial adviser and White & Case as legal adviser to Arby’s. Goldman Sachs served as financial adviser and Faegre Baker Daniels as legal counsel to Buffalo Wild Wings.
