Chanticleer to Buy Hooters in Nottingham, England

Chanticleer Holdings has signed a binding letter of intent to acquire the Hooters restaurant in Nottingham, England for $3.15 million. The seller is West End Wings, Limited, another Hooters franchisee. In 2011, Chanticleer and a group of PE investors– including H.I.G. Capital and KarpReilly–acquired Hooters of America.

PRESS RELEASE

CHARLOTTE, NC–(Marketwired – August 05, 2013) –  Chanticleer Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: HOTR) (“Chanticleer Holdings” or “the Company”), a franchisee of international Hooters® restaurants and a minority owner in the privately held parent company of the Hooters® brand, Hooters of America, has signed a Binding Letter of Intent for the acquisition of the Hooters restaurant in Nottingham, England, for a total purchase price $3,150,000, from West End Wings, Limited (the “Seller”), another Hooters franchisee. The closing is contingent upon the completion of a full and accurate audit, and is expected to occur the earlier of the completion of the audit or October 31, 2013. Nottingham will be Chanticleer’s second European and seventh international location. 
West End Wings has operated the Nottingham restaurant for 13 years. The restaurant is one of Hooters’ leading international locations, and is located in an area that is home to successful sporting teams and tourist attractions. The restaurant’s current management team will continue to operate the restaurant under Chanticleer’s new ownership. The restaurant has 340 seats, including two outdoor patio areas that accommodate a total of 80 customers.
With the signing of the Binding Letter of Intent, Chanticleer provided the Seller with a $200,000 deposit towards the purchase consideration. On August 2, 2013, the Company closed on a $3 million funding in the form of convertible debt from a consortium of investors. The company intends to issue a press release and an 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission with details of the financing and Binding Letter of Intent.
Mike Pruitt, CEO and President of Chanticleer Holdings, commented, “Signing this Binding Letter of Intent for the Nottingham location is a tremendous step forward in our plans to expand Chanticleer’s European Hooters’ footprint and to achieve profitability. We are extremely grateful for the opportunity to have secured the funding from the consortium of investors who independently evaluated the promise of our plans. Nottingham has been a stellar location for the iconic Hooters brand, and we look forward to closing this transaction soon and benefitting from the restaurant’s future success. ”
About Chanticleer Holdings, Inc.
Chanticleer Holdings (HOTR) is focused on expanding the Hooters® casual dining restaurant brand in international emerging markets. Chanticleer currently owns in whole or part of the exclusive franchise rights to develop and operate Hooters restaurants in South Africa, Hungary and parts of Brazil, and has joint ventured with the current Hooters franchisee in Australia, while evaluating several additional international opportunities. The Company currently owns and operates in whole or part of seven Hooters restaurants in its international franchise territories: Durban, Johannesburg, Cape Town and Emperor’s Palace in South Africa; Campbelltown in Australia and Budapest in Hungary.
In 2011, Chanticleer and a group of noteworthy private equity investors, which included H.I.G. Capital, KarpReilly, LLC and Kelly Hall, president of Texas Wings Inc., the largest Hooters franchisee in the United States, acquired Hooters of America, a privately held company. Today, Hooters of America is an operator and the franchisor of over 430 Hooters® restaurants in 28 countries. Chanticleer maintains a minority ownership stake in Hooters of America and its CEO, Mike Pruitt, is also a member of Hooters’ Board of Directors.