Chain sold for $2.26 billion

Thursday, July 25, 2002 | 11:10 a.m.

LONDON -- Diageo PLC announced today it has agreed to sell its fast-food business Burger King Corp. for $2.26 billion in cash.

The buyer is a consortium of U.S. venture capital firms led by Texas Pacific Group. Its other members are Boston-based Bain Capital and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, the private equity arm of U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs.

The long-awaited deal, reached after days of intense negotiations, is crucial to Diageo's strategy of focusing on its more lucrative business of making and selling alcoholic beverages. The company's best-known brands include Johnnie Walker scotch, Guinness beers and Bailey's Irish Cream liqueur.

archive