Bradenton-based First Watch Restaurant Group’s private equity-backer and largest shareholder is selling three million shares in a $49 million secondary public offering.
Advent held 80% ownership of First Watch before it sold around 4.5 million shares late last year in a $66 million secondary offering, according to SEC documents. Advent Principal Ralph Alvarez, the former president and COO of McDonalds, serves as First Watch’s chairman. Advent holds three additional seats on the company’s board.
Advent International Corp., a $92 billion global private equity firm based in Boston, will still own approximately 58% of First Watch’s outstanding shares post-offering, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Advent initially made a majority investment in First Watch (Nasdaq: FWRG) in August 2017 and later led the restaurant franchise operator through a $182 million initial public offering in October 2021.
Jeffries, a global investment bank and the underwriter for the offering, agreed to buy the shares at $16.40 a share with the option to purchase an additional 450,000 shares after the offering. First Watch will not receive any proceeds from the transaction, according to the filing.
Founded in 1983, First Watch Restaurants Inc. is the 17th-largest public company in Tampa Bay with $730.2 million in annual revenue, 12,000 employees, and 474 restaurants across 29 states at the end of 2022.