OTHER NEWS - Aug. 30, 1996

Carl’s Jr. Parent Swallows Taco Bueno: CKE Restaurants, operator of the Carl’s Jr. fast-food chain, gobbled up its third acquisition of the year: Casa Bonita Inc., whose holdings include 109 Taco Bueno restaurants. The $42-million purchase was announced Wednesday. Carl Karcher began CKE with a single hot dog stand. It now runs eight restaurant chains and had $465.4 million in sales in the year ended Jan. 29. The earlier CKE takeovers this year were Summit Family Restaurant (JB’s Restaurants, HomeTown Buffet, Galaxy Diners) and 28 Rally’s restaurants. The seller in the Taco Bueno deal was British food maker Unigate. Unigate is getting out of U.S. businesses to focus on its core European foods and distribution businesses. CKE stock ended down $1 to $28 in New York Stock Exchange trading.