SCOTTSDALE, AZ-When Applebee franchisee RMH Franchise Corp. needed funding to acquire a 45-restaurant portfolio, it turned to local REIT STORE Capital Corp. and ACON Investments, based in Washington, DC for equity assistance. The end result was a $79 million sale-leaseback transaction on 34 restaurants located in nine states including Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Wyoming, Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, Alabama and Mississippi.

The seller was Concord Neighborhood Corp., with Cypress Group acting as a financial advisor to the seller. “The real estate financing provided by STORE Capital was a critical element in our successful execution of the acquisition of Applebee's restaurants from Concord,” says Jeff Neumann, CEO of RMH Franchise Corp., in a press release.

According to STORE's executive vice president of acquisitions Mary Fedewa, the portfolio fit perfectly within the REIT's strategy, as 50% of STORE's portfolio consists of restaurants. "This was a particularly neat opportunity," she tells GlobeSt.com. "It was an opportunity for an existing Applebee's operator to sell the business and real estate." She goes on to say that STORE came in with the real estate funding, which freed up capital to focus on the operations and other parts of the portfolio.

She goes on to say that the Applebee's investment is likely to be the first in what could be an active year for STORE. "STORE has funded, or committed to fund, about $1.3 billion since its inception in 2011. We're looking to double the size of the company this year," she remarks. "The market's right for it this year."

STORE Capital is a REIT primarily backed by funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management LP. STORE – an acronym for "single tenant operational real estate," provides tailored real estate lease and mortgage financing tools to customers.