Sun Capital Partners to buy Boston Market restaurant chain from McDonalds

A spokesman for Sun Capital Partners announced Monday the company had agreed to buy the meat-and-potatoes Boston Market restaurant chain from its parent, McDonald's Corp.

Spokesman Richard Hurwitz said Sun Capital would acquire Boston Market but declined to make further comment on the deal. A McDonald's spokesman did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

In a regulatory filing Monday, the world's largest restaurant company said it had agreed to sell Golden, Colorado-based Boston Market to an undisclosed buyer. Terms of the deal were not announced, but Oak Brook-based McDonald's said it had signed a definitive agreement to sell the chain in "early August." The transaction is expected to be completed in the third quarter.

The news of a sale comes seven months after McDonald's acknowledged it was studying strategic options for the chain.

Boston Market, originally called Boston Chicken, has 630 restaurants in 28 states. McDonald's acquired it in 2000 for $173.5 million as part of an initiative to diversify its business.