Little Chef owner abandons sales move
THE owner of the Little Chef roadside restaurant chain is said to have abandoned attempts to sell the business.
Turnaround specialist R Capital has struggled to find a buyer for the whole company and is believed to be looking at the sale of up to 20 of its 200 sites instead. R Capital bought Little Chef out of administration a year ago and in June appointed corporate finance boutique Cavendish to oversee a sale after receiving unsolicited approaches for the business.
Previous suitors linked with a deal for the chain include Autogrill, the Italian motorway services firm owned by the Benetton family, Iranian property tycoon Vincent Tchenguiz, and celebrity chef Jamie Oliver.
R Capital is now in talks with motorway service station operators Moto and Welcome Break over the sale of between 15 and 20 sites, according to a newspaper report yesterday.
The private equity firm is said to be more comfortable about continuing to own the lion’s share of the Little Chef estate after improved trading from the restaurants.
