Karcher Enterprises Appoints 2 to Its Board : Franchise: The two shareholders are helping founder Carl N. Karcher out of personal financial difficulties.

As expected, Carl Karcher Enterprises on Friday awarded board seats to William P. Foley II and Daniel D. (Ron) Lane, two investors who are helping to bail hamburger chain founder Carl N. Karcher out of personal financial difficulties.

Foley and Lane were added to the board during a 3 p.m. telephonic board meeting, shortly after a complicated stock deal closed. Foley and Lane represent an investor group that on Friday took control over about 5 million Karcher Enterprises shares, or 22% of the company’s stock.

Carl Karcher had used the shares to secure about $30 million in personal loans that had gone into default. On Friday, the group paid off a $23-million personal loan to Karcher from Union Bank, giving it control over about 4.9 million shares.

In October, another group that includes Foley took control of about 550,000 Karcher Enterprises shares after paying off a defaulted $4.8-million personal loan for Karcher.

“With the wire transfer, the deal essentially is closed,” said Andrew Puzder, Karcher’s personal attorney. “We also expect to close the Park Vista apartment bond issue today.”

Park Vista, a joint project involving Karcher, the Anaheim Housing Authority and Citicorp Real Estate, is a troubled apartment project in Anaheim. Karcher had guaranteed a $26-million bond issue, but had stopped making payments.

The bond issue was refinanced at a much lower rate, turning the money-losing project into a profitable operation. The refinancing means that Karcher won’t have to continue pumping funds into the project.