Diners may know The Bistro Group through its sprawling network of brands such as TGI Friday’s, Texas Roadhouse, Italianni’s, Fish & Co. and Modern Shang.
It also offers more upscale concepts such as Morton’s The Steakhouse and the recently-opened Fogo de Chão.
The Bistro Group operates more than 200 restaurants under 23 brands.
Anscor flips stake at a profit
In a stock exchange filing on Thursday, the Soriano family-led holding firm A. Soriano Corp. (Anscor) announced the sale of its 22 percent stake to Chen’s Inoza Business Holdings Inc. for P1.9 billion.
The sale of The Bistro Group was announced a few months earlier, but this is the first time figures have been disclosed for the deal.
“The transaction represents value realization by Anscor of its investment in TBG. Anscor realized gross annualized returns greater than 25 percent on its investment in TBG, through a combination of distributions and capital gains,” Anscor said in the filing.
Recent developments
This comes after the Philippine Competition Commission earlier cleared Inoza’s purchase of the rest of The Bistro Group from private equity firm Navegar last August.
Navegar, which acquired majority of the The Bistro Group in 2014, has been seeking buyers for its shares in recent years, with Chen’s group emerging as the buyer willing to meet its asking price.
Inoza is affiliated with Progeny Global Holdings, the agribusiness group behind Bounty Fresh and LSR brands like Chooks-to-Go and Uling Roasters.
Miguel R. Camus has been a reporter covering various domestic business topics since 2009.
