Restaurant chain Prezzo agrees to 304 mln stg cash bid from TPG

LONDON, Nov 6 (Reuters) - British restaurant chain Prezzo Plc has agreed to a 303.7 million pounds ($485.4 million) cash bid by U.S. private equity firm TPG which values the business at almost 10 times its core earnings, according to a statement on Thursday.

TPG, which beat competition from buyout firm Advent to seal the acquisition, has launched the offer via Papa Bidco, a newly-incorporated company indirectly owned by the TPG funds.

Papa Bidco will pay 126.5 pence in cash for each Prezzo share. The offer values the business at 9.9 times its adjusted EBITDA of 28.9 million pounds in 2013, or 9.2 times its adjusted EBITDA of 31 million in 2014.

Prezzo, which was advised by Altium (Other OTC: ALMFF - news) , is controlled by the Kaye family with a 58 percent stake. The Kayes also founded the Ask and Zizzi chains, sold to Gondola Holdings in 2004.

Gondola, backed by private equity firm Cinven, ranks among the market leaders in the UK casual dining sector. It recently sold its Pizza Express brand to China's Hony Capital for 900 million pounds. (1 US dollar = 0.6257 British pound) (Reporting by Pamela Barbaglia; Editing by David Holmes)