9figure deal for Barcelona, Bartaco completed
GREENWICH — Private equity firm L Catterton announced Wednesday it had completed a $650 million acquisition of Del Frisco’s Restaurant Group, which includes Barcelona Wine Bar and Bartaco, two of southwestern Connecticut’s mostsuccessful upscale restaurant chains.
Barcelona and Bartaco will be run separately under L Catterton’s ownership, with their own strategies and leadership teams. In a related move, L Catterton also announced it will sell Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steakhouse and Del Frisco’s Grille brands to Landry’s Inc. for an undisclosed amount.
“We look forward to leveraging L Catterton’s deep restaurant experience and operational capabilities to help Bartaco and Barcelona Wine Bar reach their full potential,” L Catterton Managing Partner Andrew Taub said in a statement. “We are confident that running as separate businesses, these highly experiential and unique restaurant concepts will be best positioned for growth and expansion.”
Through the deal with Landry’s, the Del Frisco steak businesses will join a company that owns and operates more than 600 properties across more than 60 brands, including Landry’s Seafood, Saltgrass Steak House, Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., Morton’s The Steakhouse and Rainforest Cafe. Affiliates operate five Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino locations.
“We are confident that the separation of the business and the sale of the steak concepts to Landry’s creates the best opportunity to unlock value in all of the company’s restaurant brands,” Taub said.
The finalized deal to take Irving, Texasbased Del Frisco’s private comes about a year after Del Frisco’s $325 million purchase of Barcelona and Bartaco’s thenparent company, Norwalkbased Barteca.
Last December, Del Frisco’s announced it would assess a number of options, including a potential sale. It faced pressure from activist investor Engaged Capital, which had criticized the management of its steakhouse restaurants and faulted its acquisition strategy.
In Connecticut, Mediterraneaninfluenced Barcelona has locations in Stamford, Norwalk, Fairfield, New Haven and West Hartford. There are Bartaco establishments in Stamford, Westport and West Hartford. Across the state line, it also has a restaurant in Port Chester, N.Y.
In addition, Barcelona and Bartaco operate in several other states across the East Coast, the Midwest and the southern and western regions.
During the past 30 years, Greenwichbased L Catterton has invested in nearly 30 restaurant brands, including Bloomin’ Brands Inc., which comprises Outback Steakhouse, Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse, Carrabba’s Italian Grill, and Bonefish Grill; CÉ LA VI; Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen; Crystal Jade; Culinary Concepts by JeanGeorges, P.F. Chang’s and Uncle Julio’s.
In July, L Catterton announced it had sold, for an undisclosed amount, its stake in Punch Bowl Social , a fastgrowing eatertainment restaurant chain, to Cracker Barrel Old Country Store.
Among other deals in the past few months, L Catterton has announced the sale of the CorePower Yoga fitnessstudio chain and the acquisition of Cholula, a producer and distributor of Mexicanmade hot sauce.
Describing itself as the “largest consumerfocused private equity firm in the world,” L Catterton operates with more than $15 billion of equity capital.
It operates 17 offices, with its headquarters at 599 W. Putnam Ave. in Greenwich.