Shared Wendy's and Arby's restaurants will soon be cropping up all over the Middle East thanks to an agreement the parent company of the restaurant chains reached with a Saudi franchisee.

Atlanta-based Wendy's/Arby's Group Inc. has inked a deal with Saudi Arabia's  Al Jammaz Group to build 135 restaurants in nine countries in the Middle East and North Africa over the next decade. 

Specialized Catering Services Est., an Al Jammaz subsidiary, plans to open the first one in Saudi Arabia by early next year. 

The new restaurants will be "dual branded," meaning that each store will offer both Wendy's and Arby's menu items, according to a news release.

Dual-branded restaurants are important to the company's international expansion strategy, officials said in the release. 

"We believe dual-branded restaurants will generate higher sales volumes and better return on investment, making this approach particularly compelling to our international franchises," said Roland Smith, Wendy's/Arby's president and CEO. 

There are currently two Arby's restaurants in the region, located in Qatar and Dubai, United Arab Emirates. These are not included in the new franchise agreement. 

This is Wendy's/Arby's first agreement with an international franchisee to build dual-branded restaurants since the company was formed in 2008.  In September, Triarc Cos. Inc., the parent company and main franchisor of Arby's Restaurant Group Inc., bought Wendy's International Inc.

Those separate companies still exist, but Wendy's/Arby's Group was formed to handle the chains' joint operations.

The company recently reached an agreement with a Singapore franchisee to build 35 Wendy's restaurants there over the next 10 years.

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