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Ron Ruggless
MIAMI Benihana Inc.’s stock price rose 8.8 percent Tuesday after the New York Post reported that an investor had made an offer to take the Japanese-themed restaurant company private.
The Post reported Tuesday morning that Russell Glass, manager of RDG Capital LLC of New York, and his private equity partners had made an offer of $7 per share, which would peg Benihana’s value at $107.8 million based on its latest number of outstanding shares.
The stock closed Tuesday at $6.40 a share, up from the Monday close of $5.88, and also boasted a larger-than-normal trading volume, with 100,986 shares changing hands. The average daily trading volume is 7,359 shares. Benihana’s stock has traded between $9.55 and $1.62 per share during the past 52 weeks.
Aspokesman for Miami-based Benihana said the company would have no comment on the Post’s report. No public filings were made with securities regulators at press time.
In late February, Benihana stockholders gave the company’s management the green light to merge with a subsidiary and issue 12.5 million new shares. The proposed merger was opposed by members of the late Benihana founder Rocky Aoki’s family, which holds about 38 percent of shares in the Benihana of Tokyo trust, and hedge fund Coliseum Capital Management LLC. Both groups said the merger would dilute their holdings.
The company also is working with a turnaround firm.
Benihana’s latest-quarter results included a 3.4-percent systemwide same-store sales decline, reflecting declines of 5.9 percent at Benihana units and 1.6 percent at the Haru concept. RA Sushi logged a 4.4 percent increase in same-store sales. Total sales for the third quarter, which ended Jan. 3, increased 4.8 percent to $70 million.
Benihana owns and operates 98 restaurants in the United States, including 64 Benihana teppanyaki, nine Haru sushi and 25 RA Sushi Bar restaurants. The company also franchises 23 Benihana units in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean.
Contact Ron Ruggless at [email protected].
