CEO Fertitta Offers to Buy Landry's Outright
Landry's Restaurants Chairman, President and CEO Tilman Fertitta yesterday offered to acquire the remaining 61 percent stake in the Houston-based restaurant and hospitality company.
Fertitta already owns 39 percent of the company he now aspires to privatize. He proposed to buy the rest at $23.50 per share. The shares would cost Fertitta about $380 million. Including debt, the total value of the deal would be $1.3 billion.
Landry's board has formed a special, independent committee to review Fertitta's offer.
"A long-term focus will provide the company with greater flexibility to meet the challenges of intensifying competition, shortage of workers, escalating real-estate costs and the risk of new entrants to the market," Steve Scheinthal, Landry's executive VP and general counsel, told the Associated Press.
Landry's, which went public in 1993, operates several restaurant chains, including Landry's Seafood House and Chart House, and hotels, such as the Golden Nugget casinos in Las Vegas and Laughlin, Nev. Last October, Landry's sold its casual seafood chain, Joe's Crab Shack, to a private equity firm for $192 million.
News of Fertitta's offer helped push shares up $3.78 on Monday, a boost of nearly 23 percent from Friday's close of $16.67. On Tuesday, Landry's shares fell 75 cents, to close at $19.70 per share.
