Press Releases
Golden Gate Bell Restaurant Holdings Acquires 13 Additional Taco Bell Restaurants in Northern California
September 30, 2014 — Golden Gate Bell Restaurant Holdings, LLC (GGBRH), the holding company of Taco Bell® franchisee Golden Gate Bell, LLC (GGB) and an affiliate of A&C Ventures Inc. (ACV), is pleased to announce that GGB has acquired 13 Taco Bell® restaurants from Dallas, TX-based Aksan United Fortune. The Aksan restaurants, located primarily in Sonoma and Napa Counties, will compliment GGB's recent purchase of 72 San Francisco Bay Area Taco Bell® restaurants from Dolan Foster Enterprises. Management of the additional restaurants will be assumed by the Pleasanton, CA-based GGB executive team led by Randy Rodrigues, Paul Luce and Monica Schneider. With this acquisition, Golden Gate Bell now operates 85 Taco Bell® restaurants and becomes the largest Taco Bell® franchisee in California as well as one of the larger franchisees of the brand in the nation.
David Grieve, President of ACV and Manager of GGBRH said, "We couldn't be more thrilled to add the Aksan restaurants to our Golden Gate Bell portfolio. Randy and his team are doing a tremendous job integrating the existing employees and new stores with the Dolan Foster restaurants we recently acquired. Synergistically, both from an operational and location standpoint, the new restaurants weave nicely into our Northern California footprint. Having recently returned from the Taco Bell franchisee FRANMAC convention, we're all very excited with the slate of brand initiatives on the table and look forward to thoughtfully expanding our YUM! Brands portfolio in the future."
Auspex Capital represented Aksan as an exclusive investment banking advisor in the deal. For the business acquisition and development loan facilities, Citizens Bank served as Sole Lead Arranger, Bookrunner and Administrative Agent, with Bank of America and BMO Harris Bank rounding out the syndicate. Heritage Bank of Commerce funded the acquisition of real estate associated with the sale.
Golden Gate Bell Restaurant Holdings Acquires 72 Taco Bell Restaurants from Dolan Foster Enterprises
September 2, 2014 — Golden Gate Bell Restaurant Holdings, LLC (GGBRH), an affiliate of A&C Ventures Inc. (ACV), is pleased to announce the acquisition of 72 Taco Bell® restaurants from franchisee, Dolan Foster Enterprises, LLC (DFE). The restaurants are located throughout The San Francisco Bay Area, from Benicia to Santa Cruz and as far east as Tracy, CA. DFE, founded in 1969, opened its first restaurant in Oakland, CA, and was one of the larger Taco Bell franchises in the nation.
David Grieve, President of ACV and Manager of GGBRH said, “We are very excited to expand our presence in the YUM! Brands system and to become the largest Taco Bell franchise operator in Northern California. It was a team effort from start to finish, and I’d like to thank everyone for their diligence in producing a win-win outcome for all parties involved. We’re also very fortunate that Randy Rodrigues, Paul Luce, Monica Schneider and their talented team will be staying on board as our partners and to lead operations going forward. I’d also like to wish Richard Low all the best on his retirement and thank him for his unwavering efforts to build DFE into one of the top 10 Taco Bell franchises in the United States.”
Including the Dolan Foster units, ACV, through its partnerships, now has an ownership stake in more than 100 YUM! Brands restaurants. Grieve added, “We look forward to further expanding our YUM! Brands portfolio, both organically and through strategic acquisitions. In fact, we already have a jumpstart on our development schedule with several potential sites in our focus for future restaurants.”
The business acquisition and development facilities were financed by a syndicate of banks led by Citizens Bank, along with participants Bank of America and BMO Harris Bank. Heritage Bank of Commerce provided financing for the acquisition of the real estate holdings associated with the sale. Trinity Capital represented DFE as their exclusive advisor in the transaction.
Warfield Theater purchased by A&C Ventures
March 25, 2013 — A&C Ventures, Inc. (ACV) recently purchased the historic Warfield Theater in downtown San Francisco. The 2,300 seat live venue theater was built in 1921 as a vaudeville and movie palace. It is located in the heart of the Mid Market area which is experiencing a major revitalization with the influx of companies such as Twitter, Zynga, Zoosk and Dolby Labs.
The acquisition of the Warfield Theater is the company’s third Bay Area acquisition in the last ten months. Last May, ACV purchased the Office Max property on Geary Blvd. In December, ACV acquired a ten property portfolio in downtown Tiburon.
A&C Ventures is a real estate investment company based in Sonoma. They own and manage over 130 retail properties nationwide. Vincent Schwab of Marcus and Millichap in San Francisco, handled the transaction.
A&C Ventures/ Argonaut Investments acquires property portfolio in downtown Tiburon
January 2, 2013 — ACV Argo Tiburon, LP, a joint venture between A&C Ventures, Inc. and Argonaut Investments, LLC, recently purchased 10 downtown Tiburon buildings with 72,000 square feet of retail and office space. The Seller was MSP Tiburon LP, overseen by Barbara Abrams, a long time Tiburon resident, who’s father, Fred Zelinsky, purchased the properties over a half century ago.
Matt Howarth, Chief Operating Officer of A&C Ventures, stated, “This is a special opportunity to acquire a unique group of properties in a town like Tiburon. We look forward to working together with our tenants, town officials and the community to help in the revitalization of downtown Tiburon.”
The recent acquisition includes the buildings occupied by Guaymas and Servino Ristorante, Tiburon Playhouse, Shark’s Deli, Bank of America, New Morning Café, Union Bank, Sotheby’s and a number of commercial buildings on Main Street and Tiburon Boulevard.
A&C Ventures is a real estate investment company based in Sonoma, CA. They own and manage over 130 retail properties nationwide. Argonaut Investments based in Corte Madera, CA, owns and manages 18 retail centers throughout the Western United States. This is the fifth joint venture in the last two years for the two companies. Vincent Schwab and Jeffrey Ida of Marcus and Millichap of San Francisco handled the transaction.
