Carluccio’s sold for £90m

Italian restaurant chain Carluccio's, which has outlets in Manchester's Spinningfields and the Trafford Centre, has been bought by Middle Eastern retail firm Landmark Group for £90m.

Landmark, which is based in Dubai, has offered 142p a share in cash for Carluccio's.The chain, which was founded by chef Antonio Carluccio in 1991 and has 47 restaurants and food shops in the UK, said the deal gave “an attractive premium, in cash, at a time of macro-economic uncertainty".

Landmark already held more than five per cent in the company and also owns the franchise for Carluccio's Middle Eastern operations, which consists o three restaurants in Dubai.

Mukesh Jagtiani, owner and chairman of Landmark, said Carluccio's was a ‘strong business and brand’.

"We are encouraged by Carluccio's resilient performance during a turbulent economic period and are confident that Carluccio's should benefit from more favourable macro trends in the future," he said.

David Bernstein, Carluccio's senior independent director, said: "For our employees, it represents the opportunity to benefit from belonging to an international organisation of enlarged scale and breadth. Our customers will, however, see no change in our focus on quality, value, authenticity and the highest standards of service."