(Bloomberg) -- Fast-food chain Raising Cane’s Restaurants LLC sold $500 million of junk bonds Wednesday after receiving strong demand from investors that let it cut the yield it’s paying on the debt. 

The chicken finger restaurant priced its senior unsecured notes at par with a 9.375% coupon, tighter than the initial price talk that called for a yield in the high 9% to 10% range, according to people with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be identified because the information is private. JPMorgan Chase & Co. led the transaction. 

The bonds, Raising Cane’s public market debut, traded well immediately after pricing, rising to 101.375 cents on the dollar at 1 p.m. New York time, according to Trace. 

JPMorgan declined to comment. A representative for Raising Cane’s didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Raising Cane’s is a growing player in the popular chicken category, facing off against rivals including McDonald’s Corp., Restaurant Brands International Inc.-owned Popeyes and Yum! Brands Inc.’s KFC. Its simple menu focused on fries and chicken fingers has garnered a devoted following. The company had restaurant sales of $3.3 billion for the 12 months ended June 2023, with adjusted earnings of $647 million, according to bond offering documents reviewed by Bloomberg. 

Founder Todd Graves maintains close to a 90% equity ownership stake in the company, according to the documents. That’s proved lucrative for Graves and other shareholders, as the company has paid $183 million in distributions between the 2020 and 2022 fiscal years, documents show. 

--With assistance from Daniela Sirtori-Cortina and Gowri Gurumurthy.

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