Senior care portfolio company Best Life Brands increased to five brands following its acquisition of Next Day Access.
Delight Restaurant Group acquired 65 Wendy’s restaurants in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia from Primary Aim to make the group one of the largest franchisees within the Wendy’s system. Delight Restaurant Group, which also operates Taco Bells, was founded by Andrew and Richard Krumholz in 2016. With this acquisition, the group will own and operate 226 restaurants, generating $500 million in sales and employing 7,000 people in eight states. Delight Restaurant Group plans to continue expanding through acquisitions and new unit development.
Autos R Us, a woman- and minority-owned independent auto body repair shop run by Erma Palmer for 34 years in northeast Houston, is part of the ProColor Collision portfolio. ProColor Collision, an auto services brand under the Fix Network platform, launched in 2001 in Quebec, Canada, and is part of Fix Network’s platform of aftermarket services franchise brands that includes Fix Auto Collision, Fix Auto Service, Novus Glass, Speedy Auto Service, Speedy Glass USA and SRP brands.
A large Little Caesars franchisee bought 33 stores from an unnamed Little Caesars franchisee in the Midwest. Pizza Partners MI, led by Andy Abbajay, purchased the stores, making Abbajay the sixth largest Little Caesars franchisee. Unbridled Capital provided sell-side services on the sale.
CDM Fitness Holdings, an SBJ Capital portfolio company based in Foxborough, Massachusetts, acquired seven Tacoma, Washington-area Planet Fitness clubs from Jeg Viper of Philadelphia. This transaction grants CDM the rights to build and operate additional clubs in the Tacoma area and marks CDM’s second Planet Fitness acquisition in Washington state, following the 2023 purchase of 10 locations in Seattle. CDM opened its first Planet Fitness club in 2002 and has since grown to 80 clubs in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont and Washington through new club openings and acquisitions. It’s now among one of the largest Planet Fitness operators.
Broad Sky Partners, a middle market private equity firm focused on the business and consumer services end markets, made a strategic investment in Punctual Pros. The franchisee is an operator of One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning, Benjamin Franklin Plumbing and Mister Sparky Electrical franchises in central Pennsylvania. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Harris Williams acted as buy-side adviser, and Greenberg Traurig served as legal adviser to Broad Sky Partners on the transaction. Boxwood Partners acted as the exclusive sell-side adviser. Punctual Pros is one of the largest franchisee operators within Authority Brands. Founded in 1958 as The Rohrer Company, Punctual Pros provides home services across Central Pennsylvania and surrounding areas.
Image Studios received a strategic investment from MPK Equity Partners. Details of the investment were not made public. Harrington Park Advisors served as the exclusive financial adviser to Image Studios. Founded in 2009 by Jason Olsen, Image Studios has 76 stores in 20 states with a pipeline of 220 stores in development. Image Studios marks MPK’s 15th franchisor investment since the firm’s founding in 2015.
Sylvan Learning transferred ownership of two centers in Birmingham and Trussville, Alabama, to Ira Sullivan and two others to two operators in Alabama. Anum Shabbir took ownership of the Sylvan in Katy, Texas, and Trey Watten, who was a minority owner of the center since 2018, took over a center in Fort Worth, Texas. Sylvan, a provider of supplemental and enrichment education for K–12 students, has more than 710 locations worldwide.
Servpro Global DRT, an Orangewood Partners portfolio company, acquired Live Oak Restoration headquartered in Charleston, South Carolina. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The acquisition follows Orangewood Partners’ investment in Servpro Global DRT in December 2023. As part of the transaction, Live Oak founder and CEO Brian Turpin will continue to oversee national accounts for the combined franchises. Founded in 1967 by the Isaacson family, Servpro has grown to more than 2,100 franchisees in the U.S. and Canada. In 2019, investment funds affiliated with Blackstone acquired a majority stake in Servpro.
Shake Smart Holdings, a healthy fast-casual concept, received a majority interest investment from NewSpring Franchise. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. NewSpring General Partner Satya Ponnuru said his company has no plans at this time to franchise the brand and will keep the existing executive staff in place. Shake Smart has 45-plus locations at universities in more than 20 states. Founded in 2011 and led by CEO Kevin Gelfand, Shake Smart serves protein shakes, protein smoothies, acai bowls, wraps, avocado toast and more. As part of the transaction, Ponnuru and Patrick Sugrue will join Shake Smart’s board. New Spring’s franchise investments include Blo Blow Dry Bar, Duck Donuts, Central Bark, Federal Donuts and Chicken and Green Home Solutions.
Domino’s Pizza Group signed a binding sale and purchase agreement to acquire the remaining 85 percent interest in Shorecal Limited, the largest Domino’s franchise business operating in Ireland. Domino’s bought the remaining interest from Charles Caldwell, Adrian & Anne Caldwell and SC Holdings, an investment vehicle controlled by Radcliff Management in partnership with the Bronfman Family Office, for a total consideration of €72 million (about $78 million), subject to completion adjustments. DPG will also repay the outstanding debt on completion, currently €19.9 million (about $21 million). Shorecal operates 34 of the 99 Domino’s stores across the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The transaction is subject to competition approval in the Republic of Ireland and is expected to be completed by May.
Omri Padan, owner and CEO of Alonyal Limited, signed an agreement to sell his 225 McDonald’s restaurants in Israel to McDonald’s Corp. Upon completion of the transaction, McDonald’s will retain Alonyal’s 5,000-plus employees on equivalent terms. The agreement is subject to certain conditions, with closing anticipated in the coming months.
My Salon Suite acquired Mera Salon Suites’ two locations in Baton Rouge and Gonzalez, Louisiana. Blair and Dustin Clouatre founded Mera in 2018. Mera Salon and Spa Suites will rebrand as corporate My Salon Suite locations and join six existing salons in Louisiana. My Salon Suites opened 43 stores and secured 40 franchise agreements in 2023. The brand has more than 330 locations in 35 states and Canada, with 165 franchisees.
United Real Estate Partners merged with New Orleans Northshore agency Team Geaux Realty. The move expands Metairie-based United Real Estate Partners to Mandeville, Louisiana. The combined operations and affiliated real estate professionals will operate as United Real Estate Partners. Agents now have three office locations in New Orleans, Mandeville and Metairie.
Brian Grunell purchased Printcraft of Caldwell and rebranded the print shop into a full-service International Minute Press franchise in Caldwell, Idaho. Prior to becoming a franchisee, Grunell worked 20 years in corporate human resources for Schreiber Foods, Polaris Industries, GoGo squeeZ and Valley Wide Cooperative.
Hilton reached an agreement with Adventurous Journeys Capital Partners to acquire Graduate Hotels. Hilton will pay $210 million to acquire all rights to the Graduate brand worldwide and will enter into franchise agreements for all existing and signed pipeline Graduate Hotels. AJ Capital will remain the owner of the more than 35 operating and pipeline Graduate properties, each of which will be operated under long-term Hilton franchise agreements.