Altamont Capital Buys Fast Food Franchisees, Plows Through Fund

Tacala operates 162 Taco Bells in the southeastern United States, mostly in Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee. Boom Foods operates 66 Sonics in the same region. A source close to the deal said that Altamont Capital invested about $60 million of equity, though they declined to discuss the deal’s enterprise value or the company’s financial performance.

“It’s a great platform for growth, whether developing more stores and/or doing acquisitions,” Rogers told Buyouts.

Kevin Burke, a managing director at the Los Angeles-based boutique investment bank Trinity Capital LLC with whom Rogers and his colleagues have worked before, introduced Altamont Capital to the opportunity about nine months ago. Randall Eason, a managing director with Altamont Capital, helped lead the investment for the team.

The deal is part of a busy finale to the year for Palo Alto, Calif.-based Altamont Capital, which is investing out of its debut fund, which closed with $500 million in commitments in late 2010.

On Dec. 17, the firm closed its acquisition of Spokane, Wash.-based window manufacturer Cascade Windows Inc. And the firm expects to close another platform acquisition on Dec. 21.

Altogether, the firm will have invested about 20 percent of its fund in these three deals and, once the third deal closes, about 50 percent of the fund will have been invested. Rogers said it would be premature to discuss Altamont Capital’s plans for a sophomore fund.

Rogers launched Altamont Capital after leaving San Francisco-based Golden Gate Capital. The firm typically invests $10 million to $75 million of equity for control-stake deals across a variety of sectors. Its portfolio includes J.D. Byrider, a used car sales and finance chain, and the Robert Allen Group, a designer and marketer of decorative fabrics and furnishings for the interior design market.

The sellers in the deal include Don Ghareeb, who co-founded the business in 1989.