Private equity set to feast on Burger King

The fast food giant Burger King is thought to be in talks with private equity firms after hoisting the for-sale sign above its global restaurants.

Burger King is under pressure from a resurgent McDonald's and suffered a 2.3 per cent fall in global underlying sales for the three months to 30 June.

Founded in 1955, the home of the Whopper was spun out of the drinks conglomerate Diageo by Goldman Sachs, Texas Pacific and Bain Capital in a $1.5bn (£970m) deal in 2002. They floated Burger King four years later.

The chain, which has a market capitalisation of $2.2bn, was said to be in talks with the private equity firm 3G Capital Management.

But the UK private equity firm 3i said it was "not looking" at Burger King, which has more than 500 outlets in the UK and more than 12,000 globally. Burger King declined to comment.