La Tasca agrees £96m bid from Tragus

La Tasca's restaurant brand is set for an investment bonanza following an agreed bid for the company from Tragus, the owner of Café Rouge and Bella Italia eateries.

The cash offer values the La Tasca group at £96m and creates a restaurant business numbering more than 240 sites.

Tragus' chief executive Graham Turner said his company, which is owned by the private equity Blackstone Group and members of the management team, believed La Tasca "represents an attractive acquisition opportunity due to its position as the leading Spanish restaurant operator in the UK".

"It is our intention to continue to roll out the La Tasca brand with significant capital investment," added Turner, who prior to joining Tragus in 2005 oversaw the sale of the 4,000-strong Unique Pub Company to Enterprise Inns.

"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," he said.

John Barnes, La Tasca's chairman, said: "This transaction achieves the goals that were set out when we embarked on this process: it is an excellent deal for our shareholders delivering an attractive price and represents a premium of 68 per cent to the issue price in just two years since La Tasca floated on AIM in 2005. It clearly demonstrates the value that can be created by an excellent team."

Tragus was founded in 2002 and counts itself as one of the UK's largest independently-owned restaurant chain, with more than 175 sites throughout the country.

Observers have noted that with their wet/dry sales split, in some cases around 50:50, new La Tasca sites are likely to prove strong competition for pubs aiming at the casual dining market.