CKE Sells 121 More Hardee’s Restaurants

CKE Restaurants Inc., owner of the Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. hamburger chains, said it sold an additional 121 of its company-owned Hardee’s restaurants to franchisees for a total of about $37 million. The company sold 112 of the Hardee’s restaurants to one buyer for about $35 million and the other nine locations in a separate transaction for about $2 million. The sales will help the company reach its goal of raising $200 million to reduce debt and fund remodeling and restaurant development by selling 500 company-owned Hardee’s this fiscal year, CKE said in a statement. The transaction would give Anaheim-based CKE a total of 142 units sold this year and about $50 million raised. The company, which had $2 billion in sales for the year ended Jan. 31, operates about 3,800 quick-service restaurants in the U.S. and Mexico. The restaurants that were sold are located mostly in Georgia and North Carolina, with some in Florida and Alabama. Shares of CKE fell 6 cents to close at $3 on the New York Stock Exchange.