Burger King Goes Public After Merge With Justice Holdings Limited

By Charlene Cooper | Jun 20, 2012 11:38 AM EDT

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Burger King will once again go public on Wednesday, returning to the New York Stock Exchange. This comes after a merge between the company and Justice Holdings Limited, a London investment firm.

Burger King will merge under Justice corporate, which created a Delaware-based holding company that started trading on the New York Stock Exchange under BKW, Burger King Worldwide.

In the past, Burger King had gone public for a four year span from 2006 until 2010. During that time they were owned by 3G Capital, which made the company private to foster improvements without the bother of the public market.

Owners of 3G Capital will still keep 71 percent of Burger King, even with its new ownership.

349.9 million shares will be put into Burger King Worldwide. Founders of Justice corporate will hold close to 13 percent of Burger King, while other shareholders will have 16 percent of the stock.

Those in charge of 3G Capital do not intend on selling any stocks within the first six months of the new company, while Justice's founders will not sell shares until one year following the transaction.

Prior to its return to the public market, Burger King has seeing much improvement in their efforts to strengthen the company. The company's 2012 first quarter profits increased within North America by 4.2 percent. This is the biggest growth rate seen by Burger King within the past few years. Burger King earned a net gain of $25 million by the end of its quarter on March 31. During the same period last year, the company had seen a loss of $5.9 million. The company's recent financial growth marked its first positive increase in over two years.

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