Wendy's To Sell 30 Restaurants In St. Louis Market To BB St. Louis LLC

(RTTNews) - Fast food chain Wendy's Co. (WEN) announced the sale of 30 restaurants in the St. Louis market to BB St. Louis, LLC, a partnership headed by current Wendy's franchisee and former National Basketball Association great Junior Bridgeman, along with current NBA star Chauncey Billups. The transaction comprises 29 existing restaurants and one restaurant currently under construction. With this transaction, Bridgeman, who is Wendy's second-largest franchisee, currently has total or partial ownership of 196 Wendy's restaurants.

Wendy's President and Chief Executive said the sale is a vital part of the firm's ongoing brand transformation, including reimaging and developing new restaurants, a new Wendy's logo, innovative products and bold new packaging. The latest element of the transformation is the company's recently announced initiative to optimize its restaurant portfolio by concentrating its ownership geographically through the sale of nearly 425 Company-operated restaurants to franchise operators.

The company is targeting the end of the second quarter of 2014 for the closing of these transactions.

The deal between Wendy's and BB St. Louis included a requirement to reimage certain restaurants in the company's new Image Activation design, also encompassing a development plan for new restaurants.