Kitcatt Nohr Digitas

That’s the price - $3.26bn in fact - paid by private equity for Burger King.

Two things strike me about that.

First that there’s still a lot of private equity money sloshing about. And rumour says there are sacks more waiting for a tasty deal.

Second that it’s quite good value, albeit a bit out of my league. BK has a little over 12,000 outlets, so I make that about £175k per outlet. When you look at the business those places do, the return on investment appears very promising. A friend of mine used to run some of their franchises in the US. It sounds like a very tough life but he made enough to sell up and sail.

And then there is the huge opportunity for growth. In a previous incarnation one of my teams had the joy of promoting the Wendy’s brand in the UK for a short while. Undifferentiated product, uninspiring service, unfortunate brand name – all very good reasons for not advertising. The same isn't true of Burger King. When the market leader, McDonald’s, has 31,000 outlets, you know there is every reason to try harder. And all the demographics tell us that people worldwide will increasingly want more meat, cheaper and faster – which is just what these outfits promise. Just today the papers were full of talk about the value of beef herds being driven down by the rising demand for mince rather than ‘proper’ cuts. So love them or hate them the burgers and the VCs are burgeoning.