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Sydney-based Anchorage buys NZ arm of Burger King

Minter Ellison Rudd Watts acted for Sydney-based Anchorage who officially took over ownership of the 69 company-owned and two-franchised Burger King outlets on Tuesday 15th September 2009.

Anchorage partner Mark Bayliss becomes chairman of the New Zealand Burger King operation. Former McDonald's executive John Elliott is the new chief executive. Bayliss, a former chief financial officer for Fairfax in New Zealand, will sit on the board alongside fellow Anchorage partner Phil Cave.

Minter Ellison Rudd Watts Managing Partner, Mark Weenink said: “We are proud to have been at the forefront of this deal in a year when we have been involved in a significant proportion of the meagre activity which has been out there.”

“Our client is happy with the outcome and our collaborative team, led by Cathy Quinn used a full range of skills to meet the deadline and some complex issues.” he said.

This is the first major private equity deal completed since the financial markets collapsed 12 months ago. 

Burger King joins a long list of Kiwi investments for the Australian private equity industry. These include appliance retailer Noel Leeming, retail chains Whitcoulls, Borders and Kathmandu, and health supplements brands Healtheries and Nutra-Life.

TPF bought the Hell Pizza chain for $15m in 2006 and resold Hell to the business' Wellington founders, Callum Davies, Stu McMullin and Warren Powell, in May 2009 after three years of ownership.

Anchorage was formed in 2007, evolving from Interbank Capital Partners, a leading boutique private equity investor, headed by Phil Cave AM. Previous investments included Australasian food group Golden Circle which it sold to Heinz last year for a substantial profit.

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