Private-equity investors in Burger King Corp. plan to pay themselves a hefty dividend ahead of the fast-food giant's coming initial public offering of stock.

According to major debt-ratings companies, the already highly leveraged Burger King wants to take on about $350 million more in debt so it can pay a $400 million special dividend to the private-equity consortium that bought Burger King for $1.5 billion slightly more than three years ago.

The buyers, Texas Pacific Group, Bain Capital and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, are thought to have used $325 million in equity to finance the deal, so this new dividend would give the group a 23% return on its cash investment.

The dividend aside, the group will get about half the proceeds from the IPO, according to Standard & Poor's credit analyst Diane Shand. S&P expects Burger King to offer at least $600 million in shares, with the company using its share of the proceeds to pay down the dividend-related debt. That would put at least an additional $300 million in the consortium's coffers, bringing the total return on equity from the dividend and IPO to 115%.

A Burger King spokeswoman didn't return a phone call seeking comment, and members of the consortium either declined to comment or couldn't be reached.
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