Bloomberg: Blackstone To Sell 260 Burger King Locations To Houston Foods

(RTTNews) - Private equity firm Blackstone Group LP (BX) has agreed to sell about 260 Burger King (BKW) locations owned by the company's Heartland Food Corp. to Houston Foods, Bloomberg reported Thursday, citing a person with knowledge of the matter. Houston Foods is a fast-food franchisee in Texas.

Downers Grove, Illinois-based Heartland Food was acquired by Blackstone through its GSO Capital Partners LP unit. Heartland Food reportedly owns about 330 Burger King locations in eight Midwestern states.

According to the Bloomberg report, Blackstone has agreed to sell the restaurants for less than $100 million and through the sale, plans to reduce its exposure to the increasingly sluggish fast-food industry.

Meanwhile, Burger King said in late August that it has agreed to acquire Canadian coffee and dough-nut chain Tim Hortons, Inc. (THI, THI.TO) in a deal that creates the world's third-largest quick services restaurant company that will be based in Canada.

However, both Burger King and Tim Hortons will continue to operate after the closing as standalone, independent brands. More than 99 percent of Burger King restaurants are owned by franchisees.

BX closed Thursday's trading at $32.57, up $0.06 or 0.18 percent on a volume of 4.09 million shares.