When global fast-food corporations are bought and sold, investors and business reporters take notice, and so too might a few french-fry fans.

But Cindy Bailie, director of the Foundation Center’s Cleveland office, was more concerned about charity than food when she heard last week about the sale of Wendy’s International, a Dublin, Ohio, company, to the business that runs Arby’s restaurants.

“What will happen to Wendy’s philanthropic activities, if anything?” she asks on the Philanthropy Front and Center – Cleveland blog her group runs.

She writes that the Wendy’s International Foundation issued some $800,000 in grants in 2006, including $125,000 to the United Way of Central Ohio. And the Wendy’s name is attached to other charitable causes and campaigns as well.

Arby’s has its own portfolio of philanthropic efforts. (Indeed, she notes that the Arby’s Foundation, in Atlanta, gave more than $2.65-million to charity in 2006.)

“I’d like to think that a sale like this is aimed at gaining market share for Wendy’s and maximizing profit, resulting in more corporate engagement in more communities, but that may be the naive wish of a girl who grew up consuming many a late-night Frosty (probably too many),” she writes.

She asks readers to predict what will happen next. What do you think? Do you have any experiences to share about the effects of mergers or acquisitions on corporate giving, especially locally and regionally?