El Pollo Loco Sold.

Trimaran Capital Partners announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to purchase El Pollo Loco from American Securities Capital Partners L.P. The transaction, whose value was not disclosed, is expected to close during the fourth quarter.

El Pollo Loco’s management team, headed by President and CEO, Stephen E. Carley, will continue in their current positions and will be investors in the transaction.

Headquartered in Irvine, California, El Pollo Loco, Spanish for “The Crazy Chicken,” currently has 328 restaurants located in California, Arizona, Nevada and Texas and a strong pipeline of Company-owned and franchise restaurant commitments in California, Colorado, Illinois, New England, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Texas and Washington, D.C. By offering a broad menu of chicken-based, health conscious lunch and dinner items, El Pollo Loco restaurants appeal to a wide range of customers, diverse in age, income, location and ethnic makeup.

“We are strong believers in the demographic trends supporting this segment of the restaurant industry,” said Andrew Heyer, a co-founder and Managing Partner at Trimaran Capital Partners. “El Pollo Loco represents an exciting opportunity to invest in a company with a significant position and brand loyalty in its existing markets and attractive growth prospects in new markets. These strengths are underscored by America’s evolving preference for ethnic food, trends in home meal replacement and trends towards healthy eating, and the growth of the U.S. Hispanic population.”

“In addition, this investment exemplifies Trimaran’s investment strategy, as we partner with El Pollo Loco’s ‘dream team’ of managers who have done an exceptional job of growing this concept. Together, we look forward to accelerating the chain’s growth as we seek to bring the authentic and healthy choices offered by El Pollo Loco to more of the U.S.”

“Trimaran has an excellent track record of pinpointing key trends that serve as exciting growth engines,” said Mr. Carley. “We believe Trimaran’s operating experience in the restaurant, Hispanic and health food sectors will complement our team as we work together to grow the exciting El Pollo Loco concept to the next level.”

According to Technomic, Inc., Hispanic food is the leading ethnic cuisine measured in sales. The ethnic food category is growing at 4-6% annually, far outpacing the 2% overall industry growth rate. Three-quarters of ethnic food spending comes from mainstream America, rather than core ethnic consumers. In addition, the percentage of dollars spent on food away from home is expected to increase from 46.7% in 2004 to 53.0% by 2010, according to the National Restaurant Association.