Is Sardar Biglari planning a play for Jack in the Box?
The chairman of Biglari Holdings, the company that owns Steak n Shake along with a bunch of insurance and oil companies and a substantial stake in Cracker Barrel, has acquired 5.5% of the shares in the San Diego-based fast-food chain operator, according to federal-securities filings.
The stake amounts to just over 1.1 million shares in the company. The shares were acquired through various Biglari Holdings entities, including two of the insurance companies and Biglari’s investment fund.
The filing is a passive investment, meaning that Biglari Holdings does not plan at the moment to communicate potential changes with Jack in the Box management. But such filings can be changed to an “activist” investment at any time if Biglari opts to force changes. He has made passive investments in publicly traded companies, but he has frequently taken activist stances over the years.
His most notable actions in the restaurant space involved Steak n Shake in 2008. Biglari, then chairman of the buffet chain Western Sizzlin, won a proxy fight for seats on the board at Steak n Shake. He would later be named its chairman, then CEO, after which he renamed the company Biglari Holdings, merged it with Western Sizzlin and converted the whole thing to an investment firm.
Biglari then in 2011 made an activist investment in Cracker Barrel and tried several times for board seats, only to lose each time. He reached a settlement with the family dining chain operator last year.
This is not the first time Biglari has made a move on Jack in the Box, however. Western Sizzlin in 2008 made an odd offer to exchange shares in Jack in the Box for those of Western Sizzlin, a deal that would have represented just 1.2% of Jack in the Box stock. The offer went nowhere and was eventually pulled.
Jack in the Box operates its flagship brand along with Del Taco. The company’s shares are up 15% so far in 2022, though are down 18% since hitting its 52-week high last year.