The Restaurant Group (TRG) is reportedly considering a takeover bid, with private equity firms, former Pizza Express owner, Cinven, and TA Associates, supposedly both approaching the company.
It has been rumoured that TRG, which owns Frankie & Benny’s, Garfunkels, Joes's Kitchen and Chiquito chains, knocked back an approach earlier in the year from Apollo, the US turnround specialist that owns Casual Dining Group.
One of the challenges that TRG has been facing is the explosion of branded casual dining businesses in the UK in recent years, such as Bill’s, La Tasca and Byron. Many of these rival chains are backed by private equity firms, which are attracted to the high levels of cash generated by restaurant groups and the ease with which they can be rolled out.
The Restaurant Group has a market value of £640m, according to Thomson Reuters calculation.