PizzaExpress owner will not make rival bid for the Restaurant Group

07 November 2023 by
PizzaExpress owner will not make rival bid for the Restaurant Group

The owner of PizzaExpress will not make a bid for Wagamama owner the Restaurant Group (TRG) due to "market conditions", it has been announced.

Last month TRG confirmed that PizzaExpress owner Wheel Topco Ltd had requested diligence information to evaluate a possible offer for its competitor.

However, TRG has been informed that no offer will be forthcoming.

There had been speculation that a move from Wheel Topco could have started a bidding war for TRG, which last month agreed to be bought by Apollo Global Management for over £500m.

Analysts were divided over Apollo's 65p a share offer to buy TRG, and some warned it was too low and likely to flush out another bid for the business.

TRG runs more than 400 UK sites including the Brunning & Price pub chain and a concessions business.

In September, TRG announced it would pay rival casual dining business Big Table Group £7.5m to take its struggling leisure arm, including the Chiquito's and Frankie & Benny's brands, off its hands.

It has advised shareholders to vote in favour of Apollo's offer to buy the business.

Image: Shutterstock

The Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email

Start the working day with The Caterer’s free breakfast briefing email

Sign Up and manage your preferences below

Check mark icon
Thank you

You have successfully signed up for the Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email and will hear from us soon!

Jacobs Media Group is honoured to be the recipient of the 2020 Queen's Award for Enterprise.

The highest official awards for UK businesses since being established by royal warrant in 1965. Read more.

close

Ad Blocker detected

We have noticed you are using an adblocker and – although we support freedom of choice – we would like to ask you to enable ads on our site. They are an important revenue source which supports free access of our website's content, especially during the COVID-19 crisis.

trade tracker pixel tracking