Burger Chain Krystal Bought In $43 Million Deal

Burger chain Krystal reportedly has a new owner in one of its senior lenders, Fortress Investment Group.

The $48 million deal has Fortress assuming $27 million in debt and $21 million in liabilities, Restaurant Business reported. Before the deal, Fortress controlled a portion of Krystal’s debt load.

Krystal filed for bankruptcy in January, holding $65 million in secured debt at the time. The restaurant closed 44 locations in December 2019 and has seen its sale decline by 16% since 2014, Restaurant Dive reported. The chain has about 300 locations.

Prior to the filing for bankruptcy protection, Krystal reportedly defaulted on its debt and said it planned to sell about 150 restaurants to franchisees, eventually closing about 13% of its operations before filing Chapter 11.

The sale of Krystal was further hampered by the coronavirus as it shut down its dining rooms to meet stay-at-home orders across the U.S. Fortress was the only bidder to enter an offer by the auction deadline, with other proposals coming in below the investment firm’s offer value, a source for Restaurant Business said.