The Subway brand is seen on takeout packing containers at a restaurant in Londonderry, N.H. The sandwich chain says will probably be offered to the personal fairness agency Roark Capital. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

Charles Krupa/AP

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Charles Krupa/AP

The Subway brand is seen on takeout packing containers at a restaurant in Londonderry, N.H. The sandwich chain says will probably be offered to the personal fairness agency Roark Capital. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

Charles Krupa/AP

Subway mentioned Thursday will probably be offered to Roark Capital, a personal fairness agency with experience in restaurant administration that might assist the sandwich chain broaden and enhance its shops.

Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. Earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Atlanta-based Roark was providing round $9.6 billion for Subway, which is privately owned.

Subway CEO John Chidsey, who joined the corporate in 2019, mentioned the deal displays Subway’s long-term progress potential and the worth of the model. Subway plans to proceed to modernize eating places and broaden internationally below Roark’s possession. Subway mentioned its management group will stay in place.

Roark is a personal fairness agency with $37 billion in belongings below administration. It focuses on franchised companies and backs two holding firms that personal a number of restaurant chains: Inspire Brands, the mother or father of Arby’s, Dunkin’, Jimmy John’s and Buffalo Wild Wings; and Focus Brands, which owns Auntie Anne’s, Carvel, Cinnabon and Jamba.

Subway, which has twin headquarters in Miami and Connecticut, was based in 1965 and remains to be owned by its founding households. It’s now one of many world’s largest restaurant chains, with 37,000 shops in additional than 100 nations.

But within the U.S., it has been shedding market share lately to fast-growing rivals like Panera and Firehouse Subs, which characteristic extra assorted menus and newer shops. Subway presently controls about 23% of the $43 billion U.S. sandwich and deli market, in response to Technomic, a consulting firm. That’s down from 34% in 2017.

Subway has been making an attempt to catch up; in 2021 it refreshed its menu and final 12 months it introduced a line of chef-developed sandwiches after discovering that prospects had been tiring of Subway’s conventional mannequin of letting prospects construct their very own sandwiches.

But in February, Subway introduced it was exploring a sale.

Subway has some momentum going into the acquisition. In July, the corporate mentioned its international same-store gross sales __ or gross sales at places open at the very least a 12 months __ had been up 9.8% from the prior 12 months. The firm has reworked 10,000 of its U.S. eating places and lately spent $80 million to supply its 20,000 U.S. eating places with deli meat slicers, a primary for the model.