Private equity group Cinven has made an official cash bid for PizzaExpress owner Gondola Holdings, valuing the company at £559m.

It means the restaurant chain operator, which also owns the Ask Central and Zizzi brands, will return to private hands less than a year after floating on the Alternative Investment Market.

Cinven said that, as a result of the offer, the proposed dividend of 4.7p per Gondola share announced on 21 September would not be paid.

Taken together with Gondola’s debt position as at 2 July, the company has an enterprise value of £900m.

David Ross, chairman of Gondola, said: “After careful consideration and deliberation, the independent directors are unanimous in their recommendation that the shareholders should vote in favour of the acquisition.”

The 415p per share offer represents a premium of 29.7% on the price of 320p per share when Gondola came to the market last November.

It also represents a 14.6% premium on the closing price of 362p on 5 September when talks first began.

Gondola Holdings enjoys strong growth in first year back on stock market>>

Gondola set to return to private hands under Cinven>>

By Chris Druce

E-mail your comments to Chris Druce here.

Get your copy of Caterer and Hotelkeeper every week - click here to subscribe and save 25%.