Private equity firm Sentinel Capital Partners has closed a deal for Newk's Holding Co. LLC, which operates a restaurant franchise.

The target, headquartered in Jackson, Miss., operates 67 Newk's Eatery franchises. The restaurants are all located in the southeastern U.S. and serve sandwiches, soup, salads and pizza. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

New York-based Sentinel has invested in several similar transactions. In March, the firm closed a deal for Checkers Drive-In Restaurants Inc., which operates 782 Checkers and Rally's restaurants. 

Sentinel's other franchise investments have included Border Foods, a Taco Bell franchisee, Cottman Transmission Systems, a franchisor of transmission repair centers and Falcon Holdings, a franchisee of Church's Chicken restaurants.

In December, the firm, which focuses mainly on lower middle market transactions in the U.S. and Canada, closed a $258 million deal for Power Products, the electrical segment of Actuant Corp. (NYSE: ATU). 

Other restaurant transactions include Apollo Global Management LLC's deal for CEC Entertainment Inc., which operates Chuck E. Cheese restaurants, and Roark Capital Group's purchase of Carl's Jr. and Hardee's restaurant chains in December. 

For more on the restaurant sector, see "Finance Finesse: Debt Markets Nourish Restaurant M&A" and "Deal Pros Stock Up on Food."

Financial services industry Food and beverage industry