Biglari Holdings Buys $2.8M In Cracker Barrel Stock

Activist investor Sardar Biglari this week acquired 50,100 more shares of Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc., bringing his stake in the family-dining chain to more than 16.3 percent.

Biglari, whose San Antonio, Texas-based Biglari Holdings Inc. owns the Steak 'n Shake and Western Sizzlin chains, has been buying Cracker Barrel stock since December, when he lost a contentious proxy battle to gain a board seat on the Lebanon, Tenn.-based company.

In U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission documents filed Wednesday, Biglari Holding's reported buying another 46,000 shares of Cracker Barrel at $56.28 on April 4 and 4,100 shares at $56.04 on April 2 for a total purchase of about $2.8 million.

Cracker Barrel has nearly 23 million shares outstanding. Over the past 52 weeks, it has traded from a low or $37.31 per share to a high of $59.90. Biglari has purchased about $60 million worth of shares this year.

In 2011, Biglari Holdings and its affiliated Lion Fund LP bought about 2.3 million shares during a six-month period ending Oct. 14.

In December, Biglari failed to persuade Cracker Barrel shareholders to add him to the company's board of directors. But a majority of those investors voted to direct management to eliminate a "shareholders' rights" anti-takeover provision.

That so-called poison pill measure would have been triggered when an investor's stake in Cracker Barrel hit 10 percent, and was rescinded at a time when Biglari-affiliated companies held about 9.9 percent of Cracker Barrel shares.

Cracker Barrel has 611 restaurants.

EARLIER:

• Biglari Holdings buys $4.6M in Cracker Barrel stock, holds nearly 16% of company
• Biglari Holdings ups stake in Cracker Barrel Old Country Store
• Biglari again raises stake in Cracker Barrel
• Biglari raises stake in Cracker Barrel
• Sardar Biglari takes Cracker Barrel to task

Contact Ron Ruggless at ronald.ruggless@penton.com.
Follow him on Twitter: @RonRuggless