Oak Hill Capital Partners, New York, entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Checkers Drive-In Restaurants, Inc., Tampa, Fla., from Sentinel Capital Partners, New York, for approximately $525 million.

Founded in 1986, Checkers operates over 840 locations in 29 states and the District of Columbia. The transaction includes the Rally’s banner.

“Checkers is a unique concept that is outpacing the growing QSR industry. The company has been able to win share in this large, stable industry through its differentiated value proposition and attractive franchised business model,” says Kevin Mailender, partner at Oak Hill. “With a proven brand, a loyal customer following and strong unit-level economics, we are confident that the business will capitalize on its large whitespace opportunity for new units. We are excited to partner with CEO Rick Silva and his talented management team to support the company through its next phase of accelerated growth.”

“We are delivering record growth at Checkers and Rally’s, and our franchisees, operators and employees are more excited than ever about our future,” adds Rick Silva, president and CEO of Checkers. “Oak Hill Capital Partners is a perfect partner to help us further accelerate our growth. This is extremely positive for our brand.”

“We believe Checkers is well-positioned to continue its long history of consistent growth,” adds Tyler Wolfram, managing partner at Oak Hill. “We have tremendous respect for Checkers’ heritage, its iconic brand and its fine leadership team. This transaction is consistent with Oak Hill’s longstanding theme-based investment philosophy and systematized approach to value creation, and it builds upon our 30-year history of investing behind leading businesses and management teams.”

The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2017.