BROOMFIELD — Restaurant chain and franchisor Noodles & Co. announced on Tuesday a $31.5 million private placement of Class A common stock to private-investment firm Mill Road Capital II LP to strengthen the Broomfield-based company’s balance sheet and fund new initiatives.

In February, Noodles & Co. filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission to pursue a public offering of stock. Noodles will forego the public offering following Mill Road’s investment. Also in February, Noodles announced it would be closing 55 underperforming restaurants.

Noodle has agreed to issue to Mill Road 8,873,240 shares of Class A common stock at a price per share of $3.55, which is equal to the closing sale price for the Company’s Class A common stock on March 10. The transaction is expected to close in early April.

Proceeds from the private placement will be used to satisfy liabilities associated with the company’s plan to close underperforming restaurants, to satisfy liabilities arising from the data breach that occurred in 2016 and to fund, in part, capital expenditures related to investments in the remaining company-owned restaurants.

Mill Road has raised approximately $670 million of aggregate equity-capital commitments and has offices in Greenwich, Conn. and the San Francisco Bay Area.