OAN’s James Meyers
11:15 AM – Friday, August 25, 2023
After five decades of family ownership, Subway has a new company in charge of the sandwich chain.
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On Thursday, it was announced that the private equity firm Roark Capital has purchased the fast-food chain, ending its six-month long search for a buyer.
The two sides did not announce a final transaction price, but The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that Roark Capital’s final bid was for $9.6 billion, which came in slightly below Subway’s asking price of $10 billion.
Subway commented on the transaction, stating it’s a “major milestone in Subway’s multi-year transformation journey, combining Subway’s global presence and brand strength with Roark’s deep expertise in restaurant and franchise business models.”
The firm currently owns over a dozen restaurants including Dunkin Donuts, Baskin-Robbins, Arby’s and Jimmy John’s.
“In essence, Roark brings more to the table than other investors would have, and while the deal closed based on cold hard cash, the outcome is a good one,” Neil Saunders, a retail analyst and managing director of GlobalData analytics, said.
Additionally, Subway CEO John Chidsey told The Wall Street Journal that Roark Capital is planning on keeping the sandwich chain as a separate entity within the company.
Subway was founded in 1965 by Fred DeLuca and Peter Buck, starting with their first sandwich shop in Connecticut and becoming a global franchise.
However, for almost a decade sales continued to fall for the fast-food chain. In 2022, Subway ended with just over 20,000 locations open in the U.S. compared to 27,100 locations in 2015.
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