Private equity firm Blackstone calls off plan to sell Burger King NZ - report

US private equity firm Blackstone has called off plans to sell fast food chain Burger King in New Zealand, the Australian newspaper reported, saying buyers were unprepared to meet its $120 million price tag.

The New York-based private equity firm bought Burger King NZ for $108m from Australia-based Anchorage Capital Partners in 2011.

This year, Blackstone hired Deutsche Craigs to sell the New Zealand master franchise of the US-based business, with information memoranda sent out to the market.

But while the sale process attracted some interest, buyers were said to have offered much less than the $120m price that Blackstone was said to be eager to achieve, the Australian said.

The business opened in New Zealand in 1993. It has 83 restaurants and employs 2600 people.

Last year, Antares Restaurant Group, the parent company which owns and operates Burger King in New Zealand, was banned from hiring migrant workers for a year.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment put the company on its stand-down list for breaching the Minimum Wage Act.