Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Inc. (Nasdaq: RRGB) is buying 32 franchised Red Robin restaurants for $40 million.

The restaurants are located in Illinois, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and British Columbia and Alberta, Canada. The restaurants are being sold by Mach Robin LLC and affiliates. 

Red Robin, headquartered in Greenwood Village, Colo., is a restaurant chain that sells burger, fries, salads, soups and beverages.

The deal comes after several other franchise transactions. In March, private equity firm Sentinel Capital Partners closed a deal for Newk's Holding Co. LLC, which operates a restaurant franchise. Also in March, Sentinel closed a deal for Checkers Drive-In Restaurants Inc., which operates franchised and company-owned locations. In December, Roark Capital Group bought the Carl's Jr. and Hardee's restaurant chains. 

For more, see "Debt Markets Nourish Restaurant M&A." 

Financial services industry Food and beverage industry