Pizza tycoon Osmond to bid for tasty Strada
HUGH Osmond, the investor who made a multimillion pound fortune from listing PizzaExpress and founding Punch Taverns in the 1990s, is mulling a return to the restaurant industry with a bid for Italian food chain Strada.
The leisure and life insurance entrepreneur’s Sun Capital Partners is believed to be one of several private equity houses in the running to buy Strada, which is part of Tragus, the group behind Cafe Rouge and Bella Italia.
PizzaExpress was recently acquired by Chinese investment firm Hony Capital
Stock market listed chain Prezzo is another possible buyer of at least some of the 50-plus Strada restaurants, which Tragus put up for sale with a £40million price tag to focus on its remaining businesses.
Tragus recently undertook a restructuring to reduce its debts.
It is one of several potential deals in the restaurant industry where PizzaExpress was recently acquired by Chinese investment firm Hony Capital for about £900million.