Josh Benn Featured in Restaurant Dive Discussing M&A Activity During COVID-19

Josh Benn, Managing Director and Global Head of Consumer, Food, Restaurant and Retail M&A at Duff & Phelps, was recently featured in the article, “Bankrupt Krystal sold to Fortess Investment Group for $48M” in Restaurant Dive. Currently, M&A activity is experiencing a period of change because of COVID-19 and the subsequent economic downturn in the restaurant industry. Market dynamics may continue to facilitate an increase in distressed acquisitions and/or deals in 2020.

Looking at current M&A activity, Josh commented, “There’s going to be a lot of restructuring activity that may involve M&A, distressed M&A or consolidation plays through bankruptcy. But for now, any company that didn’t have to do a deal, particularly in the full-service space, is pressing pause.” 

“A lot of traditional funders of restaurant companies, such as PE firms, are dealing with their portfolios and have less bandwidth and less interest in exploring new deals,” he added.

Read the full article here.