17th Jan 2007 12:32
Whitbread PLC17 January 2007 17th January 2007 WHITBREAD PLC SELLS T.G.I. FRIDAY'S BUSINESS Whitbread PLC ("Whitbread") has today announced that it has agreed to sell itsT.G.I. Friday's business for an aggregate price of £70.4m. Whitbread opened thefirst T.G.I. Friday's restaurant in the UK in 1986. The business being soldcomprises 45 restaurants situated in the UK. The property interests in 15 of the restaurants will be sold to British Land andthe remaining 30 properties and the operating business will be sold to T.G.I.Friday's UK Limited, a joint venture between Carlson Restaurants Worldwide Inc.and ABN AMRO Capital. The joint venture will be taking 25 year leases fromBritish Land for each of the 15 properties. The majority of the considerationof £70.4m will be paid in cash on completion which is expected to take place inMarch 2007. The remainder will be paid on receipt of consents required for thetransfer of certain properties. Completion is conditional upon, inter alia, the acquisition receiving clearancefrom the EU competition authorities. Whitbread will initially use the proceeds from the transaction to pay down debt. Alan Parker, Chief Executive, Whitbread said, "This sale marks the completion ofthe review of our restaurants business announced last year. We are now a leanermore focused group, concentrating our management and capital on those businesseswhere we have owned brands with leading positions and strong growth prospects." For more information please contact: Christopher Rogers,Group Finance Director, Whitbread PLC +44 (0) 207 806 5491 Anna Glover,Communications Director, Whitbread PLC +44 (0) 1582 844439 Miranda Acland, Tulchan +44 (0) 207 353 4200 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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