CIT Commercial & Industrial Finance served as sole lead arranger for an over $50 million senior secured credit facility to support the acquisition of HRI Holding by York Capital Management.

HRI is a diversified restaurant holding company focused on polished casual dining and fine dining. The company develops and owns several restaurant concepts comprising over 90 company-owned and franchised locations across the U.S. HRI operates and franchises Houlihan’s Restaurant and Bar, Devon/Bristol Seafood Grill and J.Gilbert’s Wood-Fired Steaks.

“We look forward to working with the HRI management team to continue growing the platform through innovation, new menu items, new restaurant development, remodels, support of our franchise group and add-on acquisition opportunities,” said Anand Philip, senior managing director for York, which is a global private investment firm. “CIT was able to move quickly and develop a flexible financing solution that helped make this acquisition possible.”

Financing for this transaction was provided by CIT Bank but terms were not disclosed.

“The polished casual and fine dining sectors have benefited from growing consumer spending, greater expenditure on business lunches and corporate events, and an uptick in travel fueled by strong growth as we have seen a shift of consumer spending from goods to experiences,” said Burt Feinberg, president of CIT Commercial & Industrial Finance. “As these trends are expected to continue, York and HRI are well positioned to capture the opportunities in this market. We look forward to continuing to develop our relationship with York as we help finance the needs of the restaurant sector.”