Restaurant Brands International has signed an agreement to acquire the remaining shares of Carrols Restaurant Group, its largest Burger King franchisee in the US, for an aggregate enterprise value of $1 billion.

Carrols operates 1022 Burger King restaurants in 23 states and generated about $1.8 billion of system sales for the 12 months ended September 30. The group also owns and operates 60 Popeyes restaurants in six states.

Tom Curtis, president of Burger King US and Canada, said the acquisition was part of the chain’s Reclaim the Flame plan to accelerate sales growth and drive profitability. 

“We are going to rapidly remodel these restaurants over the next five years or so and put them back into the hands of motivated, local franchisees to create amazing experiences for our guests,” Curtis elaborated.

The brand is expected to invest approximately $500 million of capital, funded by Carrols’ operating cash flow, to remodel some 600 restaurants that are not considered modern image.

Burger King will then re-franchise the majority of the portfolio to new or existing smaller franchise operators. The chain will maintain a couple of hundred restaurants for strategic innovation, training, and development purposes.

 “This is a terrific example of our commitment to putting our capital to work to accelerate growth and support Tom and his team in their broader efforts to have a more competitive Burger King restaurant base, said Josh Kobza, CEO of Restaurant Brands.

Restaurant Brands expects the all-cash transaction to complete in this year’s second quarter.