City Centre's friendly takeover of Ask Central was rudely interrupted last week by the announcement of a possible rival bid from PizzaExpress financier TDR Capital.
TDR bought Ask's arch rival PizzaExpress for £278m through its acquisitions vehicle Gondola Express in July 2003. It said it was "evaluating a possible offer for Ask Central" at a price higher than City Centre's £168m cash-and-share deal agreed late last month. While no offer is guaranteed from TDR, the group requested financial information from Ask on 4 December. All offers for Ask must be announced before 10 February.
First closing date for City Centre's offer is 19 January, and should the deal go ahead, it would create Britain's largest independent restaurant group with more than 400 outlets.
Ask Central, operator of chains Ask pizza and Zizzi, reiterated its recommendation of City Centre's offer, but said "any proposal made by TDR will be judged on its merits".
Pizza and pasta group Ask was founded in 1993 by the Kaye family, who still own about 13%. The family, which includes chief executive Adam Kaye, his brother Samuel and father Philip, is Britain's 800th-richest family.
n City Centre Restaurants, owner of the Frankie & Benny's restaurant chain, has claimed it enjoyed an encouraging second half to the financial year ended 31 December 2003. The company said in a trading statement that December had been buoyant, while like-for-like sales growth for the full year had remained above 3%. The restaurant group confirmed it remained committed to a merger with pizza chain Ask Central, which also claimed a successful Christmas trading period.