The Sunday Telegraph reports that the sale of TGI Friday’s UK restaurants is being considered by its new owners, Sentinel Capital and TriArtisan Partners, who acquired the chain only two months ago.
TGI was bought by the two private equity firms back in May for £470 million but are now believed to be considering the sale of the UK company, which has 60 outlets, has been turned round successfully and is trading well, and has active expansion plans.
It’s possible that the UK company presents a strong, coherent unit that will readily attract buyers – including, possibly, the management team – whilst other parts of the international chain may not be as readily sold.
TGI Friday’s UK restaurants had previously been owned by Whitbread, before they were sold to Carlson in 2007.
TGI Friday was originally founded in 1965 in New York, and now has over 900 restaurants in 60 countries, with total sales approaching $2.7bn last year.