Burger King, Tim Hortons merge to form fast-food giant

Burger King is buying Canada's Tim Hortons coffee-and-donuts chain in an $11.4 billion deal that raised concerns about another US company moving abroad for tax advantages. 

Burger King Worldwide denied that the deal announced Tuesday, which would create the world's third-largest fast-food company, was being undertaken for tax reasons. 

But the planned move of the "Home of the Whopper" headquarters from Florida to Canada, which could cut its corporate tax bill, sparked calls for boycotts from consumers and objections on Capitol Hill. 

The deal, backed by legendary investor Warren Buffett, would create a giant of the quick-service restaurant (QSR) industry with $23 billion in sales and more than 18,000 restaurants in 100 countries. 

That would propel the as-yet unnamed new company to number three worldwide in sales after McDonald's and Yum!, owner of Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and Kentucky Fried Chicken. 

The planned merger is the latest in a wave of controversial tax-inversion deals, in which a US company relocates its statutory headquarters outside the country to take advantage of lower tax rates. 

In the deal, Brazilian-controlled 3G Capital will convert its roughly 70 percent equity stake in Burger King to a 51 percent shareholding in the new company.