UK restaurant group Clapham House bids for Tootsies owner Urban Dining
UK restaurant group Clapham House has made an offer to buy rival Urban Dining Group, owner of Tootsies.
Clapham House, which is led by ex-PizzaExpress boss David Page, has tabled a cash bid of £25.3m for the struggling company.
Urban Dining was floated on the Alternative Investment Market in 2003 and originally planned to acquire up to three restaurant groups to roll out nationally.
In November 2004 it bought the Tootsies group. There are now 26 Tootsies restaurants and four Dexter's, but in November last year it said it was considering the sale of the underperforming business.
Clapham House plans to convert around a third of Urban Dining's restaurants to its own brands, principally Gourmet Burger Kitchen.
The company said the purchase would also provide the infrastructure to expand outside of London's M25 area.
At 44p per share, the offer represents a premium of 3.5p or approximately 8.6% over the closing price of an Urban Dining share at 40.5p on 30 March.
Clapham House is funding the purchase through a £25.4m share placement with investors.
It will hold an extraordinary general meeting shortly so shareholders can vote on the deal.
By Chris Druce
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