Arby's Franchisee Purchases 38 Units with GE Commercial Finance.

Business Editors

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 8, 2004

FX4, LLC recently purchased 38 Arby's units in Phoenix. With a total of 47 units, FX4 now is the largest Arby's franchisee in the Phoenix area.

The president of FX4, Charlie Harmon, started the business in 2000 to become the major Arby's franchisee in the region and to offer his customers the four Fs: fantastic food, fast with friendly service. "That's why I named the company FX4 -- to always keep our mission top-of-mind. It's our formula for success."

FX4 began business with the purchase of seven Arby's stores in the Phoenix area. They added two more in Flagstaff in 2002.

"Before I started FX4, I was the president of the west region for RTM, the seller of the 38 units. So I know the Arizona market, the stores, and most of the people working in the stores," says Harmon. "The only real challenge to acquiring more stores was the financing.

Our original loans were through GE Commercial Finance, Franchise Finance. We have a great relationship with them so we used the equity in our nine stores as collateral and we went back to them for the purchase of the 38 units."

The deal just closed, and Harmon was happy with the results.

"I felt like the closing happened within a very reasonable amount of time, especially considering the number of stores we were purchasing," says Harmon. "GE Commercial Finance did a great job with the loan. Because they understand the restaurant business, we didn't have to educate them.

We want to make Phoenix the 'premier' market in the Arby's system. Our goal over the next five to seven years is to remodel the existing units and build 10 new stores. We plan to use GE Commercial Finance for the additional financing to accomplish our goals."

According to Alex Johnson, account executive for GE Commercial Finance, "The goals Charlie has for FX4 make a great business model. While this shows what we can do for multi-unit operators, we also finance single-unit operators. We provide financing for acquisitions, new store developments, remodels, and refinancing, including sale-leaseback."

"We believe the key to our success is treating our employees right by giving them the respect they deserve. In return, they take care of our customers. The people at GE Commercial Finance take care of their customers with the same respect and knowledge," says Harmon.

GE Commercial Finance, Franchise Finance (GEFF) is a leading lender for the franchise finance market via direct sales and portfolio acquisition in the United States and Canada. With over $12 billion in served assets, GEFF serves over 6,000 customers and over 21,000 property locations, primarily in the restaurant, hospitality, branded beverage, storage, and automotive industries. GEFF offers customers access to capital with a menu of products featuring flexible structuring, including financing for acquisitions, refinancing, construction of new units and remodels for single- and multi-unit operators/chains. More information is available at www.gefranchisefinance.com or by calling toll-free 866-GET-GEFF (438-4333).

GE Commercial Finance, which offers businesses around the globe an array of financial products and services, has assets of over US$220 billion and is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, USA. General Electric (NYSE: GE) is a diversified technology, media and financial services company dedicated to creating products that make life better.