Olive Garden parent Darden to buy Chuy's in $605 million deal

(Reuters) - Darden Restaurants, owner of the Olive Garden chain, has agreed to buy full-service restaurant operator Chuy's Holdings in an all-cash deal which has an enterprise value of $605 million, the companies said on Wednesday.

The move would add 101 restaurants operated by Chuy's across 15 states in the U.S. to the iconic portfolio of brands owned by Darden such as LongHorn Steakhouse, Yard House, Ruth's Chris Steak House and Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen, among others.

Darden will acquire all of Chuy's outstanding shares for $37.50 per share in cash, which represents a 48.4% premium to the stock's closing on Wednesday.

Shares of Chuy's, which has a market capitalization of $436.78 million, according to LSEG data, surged over 47.4% to $37.24 in extended trading, while those of Darden dropped about 1%.

The deal, approved by the boards of both the companies, is expected to close in Darden's fiscal second quarter and is expected to be neutral to Darden's net earnings per share for its fiscal 2025.

Darden, which said it had sufficient liquidity to complete the all-cash deal, noted that the total acquisition and integration related expenses are expected to be between $50 million and $55 million, pre-tax.

Chuy's, which was founded over four decades ago, had total revenues of over $450 million in the twelve months ending March 31, 2024.

BofA Securities acted as the financial advisor to Darden, while Piper Sandler advised Chuy's.

(Reporting by Granth Vanaik in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)