LITTLETON Colo. Champps Entertainment Inc., parent of the 61-restaurant casual-dining chain, has agreed to be acquired for $74.8 million by the private-equity consortium that bought 87-unit Fox & Hound Restaurant Group last year for about $150 million.
The buyout, for $5.60 per share, would expand the holdings of F&H Acquisition Corp. to three restaurant concepts that collectively operate 136 pubs or sports-themed outlets and franchise 12 more. Fox & Hounds operates its restaurants in 25 states under that and the Bailey's Pub & Grille names. Champps' restaurants are located in 21 states.
Dallas-based F&H is owned by management and the private-equity firms Newcastle Partners L.P. and Steel Partners II L.P. F&H had made an unsolicited bid for Champps, based here, on May 31, a couple of weeks after a previous management-led attempt to buy the company for $75 million fell through. The buyers had included Champps chairman and chief executive Michael O’Donnell, chief financial officer David Womack and a New York-based private-equity firm Kinderhook Industries LLC.
The sale is expected to close by the beginning of the fourth quarter of 2007. Champps' board of directors unanimously approved the merger and is recommending that shareholders vote in favor of the acquisition.
