Subway auction end in sight with Roark, Advent circling

The auction for Subway is expected to come to a head in about a month, with about a half-dozen parties still vying for the sandwich chain, including private equity firms Roark Capital Group and London-based TDR Capital, according to people familiar with the matter.

Advent International is working with Goldman Sachs’ asset management arm on a bid while Sycamore Partners is also in the mix, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the matter isn’t public.

Bain Capital and TPG have dropped out of the process, the people said.

Subway is expected to fetch more than $9 billion, according to one of the people, after initially seeking more than $10 billion.

The company is expected to pick a winner by around July 4, the people said. The people said other suitors are still in the auction, though their identities couldn’t be determined.

Subway, one of the world’s largest restaurant chains with about 37,000 franchise-run locations in more than 100 countries, said in February it was exploring a sale and working with JPMorgan Chase.

The auction started in late January with the expectation that it would take around six months, one of the people said.