Shuttered German Burger King restaurants to reopen this week

[December 15, 2014]  FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German Burger King <BKW.N> restaurants that were shut down last month in a row between their operator and the U.S. fast food company will re-open this week, Burger King Germany said on Monday.

Twenty-six of the 89 outlets will open their doors again on Monday and the rest by Wednesday, it said in a statement.

Burger King had told Yi-Ko Holding, formerly the biggest operator of the restaurants in Germany, to shut down the restaurants immediately last month, saying the franchisee had violated its rules on the treatment of employees.

Last week, Yi-Ko filed for insolvency, putting 3,000 jobs at the restaurants at risk.

Burger King has now given insolvency administrator Marc Odebrecht a temporary license to operate the outlets under the company's brand and has provided a loan for the business.

There are 688 Burger King restaurants in Germany.

It was not immediately clear how long the license would last.

(Reporting by Alexander Huebner; Writing by Maria Sheahan; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)

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