Freshfields and Linklaters take a slice of the action as PizzaExpress sold to China's Hony
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Linklaters have won the leading roles advising on the sale of restaurant chain PizzaExpress to Chinese investment group Hony Capital for £900m.
July 14, 2014 at 06:34 AM
2 minute read
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Linklaters have won the leading roles advising on the sale of restaurant chain PizzaExpress to Chinese investment group Hony Capital for £900m.
Freshfields acted for buyout house Cinven, which owns PizzaExpress parent company Gondola Group. The firm, which also acted for Gondola on the deal, fielded a team including corporate partners Adrian Maguire and David Higgins.
Gondola will continue to operate competing restaurant brands Zizzi and ASK Italian.
Linklaters represented the Beijing-based buyer with a team featuring corporate partner Nick Rees and private equity partner Carlton Evans.
Meanwhile PizzaExpress' senior management turned to Macfarlanes on the deal, with corporate partner Ian Martin providing counsel.
Gondola is a regular client for Freshfields, with Maguire also leading the team advising on its £100m sale of gourmet burger chain Byron to Hutton Collins Partners last October.
Both Freshfields and Linklaters took roles on Cinven's purchase of Gondola in 2006, with Freshfields leading for Cinven subsidiary Paternoster Acquisitions and Linklaters acting for Gondola.
PizzaExpress opened its first outlet in Beijing earlier this year. It has 12 restaurants in Hong Kong and nine in Shanghai.
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