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Tragus,
the British mid-market restaurant chain, had agreed to buy UK
Spanish-themed restaurant chain La Tasca for around £96m in
cash, at 185 pence per share.
The
Aim listed Spanish chain operates 58 tapas bars in the UK, four in
the US, eight La Vina bars and three Sam&Maxies, a newly-launched
grill chain.
The
decision to sell came when the company received a number of
unsolicited approaches for the business and hired
PricewaterhouseCoopers to carry out a strategic review. The offer
values La Tasca's shares at 68% higher than the share price when the
company floated in February 2005, considered a reflection on the
growth of the casual dining market.
La
Tasca's Chief Executive James Horler commented "Tragus is a
good partner for La Tasca, since the culture of the two businesses
are similar. La Tasca has excellent concepts which can be developed
and evolved, and talented people who are passionate about their
business. This is an excellent deal for our stakeholders."
Graham
Turner, Chief Executive of Tragus Group, said "La Tasca will be
an excellent addition to the Tragus Group, and we are looking forward
to fully integrating and developing the business further. It is our
intention to continue to roll out the La Tasca brand with significant
capital investment."
"La
Tasca will provide a strong complement to our existing Café
Rouge and Bella Italia brands and will provide Tragus with the number
one Spanish casual dining brand in the UK." Then the problems
cam with a higher bid of 200p from Tchenguiz Family Trust and
Kaupthing Bank. Bidder Tragus confirmed this afternoon that it will
not be raising its offer.
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