Content area
Full Text
DENVER - The newly appointed chief executive of Vicorp Restaurants Inc. said she plans to ramp up expansion of its Village Inn and Bakers Square chains, refurbish existing restaurants and continue to drive sales through marketing programs and new menu items.
Debra Koenig, a 25-year McDonald's Corp. veteran who was president of its Southeast division, was appointed to the Vicorp CEO post in mid-June following the acquisition of the 371-unit family-dining company by Wind Point Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm.
Vicorp operates and franchises 233 Village Inn restaurants and 148 Bakers Square units. Wind Point Partners acquired Denver-based Vicorp from an investor group that included BancBoston Capital, Goldner Hawn Johnson & Morrison Inc. and Fairmont Capital for roughly $225.5 million in a leveraged buyout deal. The sellers had purchased Vicorp in May 2001 for $174 million in a "going private" transaction.
"The structure we used and subsequent performance of the company ... resulted in additional growth and pay-down of debt such that the Wind Point transaction made excellent economic sense for everyone involved," said Tim Greenleaf, managing director of Anaheim, Calif.-based Fairmont Capital.
Wind Point Partners' acquisition of Vicorp marks the private equity firm's first foray into the restaurant market. The deal was one of the first investments by Wind Point Partners V, a $500 million fund, according to a report by U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray, which advised on the sale.
"Investing...