Sky News reports that private equity group BC Partners is in exclusive talks to buy Cote Brasserie.
The move comes less than two years after private equity group CBPE Capital took a majority stake in the chain, but negotiations are said to be advanced, and the price around £250 million.
Cote currently operates 65 bistros around the UK having grown rapidly through the recession and which are benefiting from rising consumer spending. BC Partners will certainly have ambitions to significantly expand the chain, and possibly also to see it follow other UK operations into overseas markets.