Engaged Capital to push Del Frisco's to sell itself- WSJ
Dec 5 (Reuters) - Activist investor Engaged Capital LLC has bought a nearly 10 percent stake in Del Frisco's Restaurant Group Inc and is pushing the restaurant operator to sell itself, the Wall Street Journal reported https://www.wsj.com/articles/activist-investor-to-push-del-friscos-to-sell-itself-1544058181 on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
According to the Journal, the sources said the activist hedge fund believes that Del Frisco's, a steak house restaurant chain operator, is poorly managing its restaurants and rushed into buying two chains to avoid being acquired.
Engaged Capital and Del Frisco's were not immediately available for a comment.
In June, Del Frisco's acquired Barteca Restaurant Group for $325 million in cash.
Del Frisco's, which owns Eagle Steak House and Frisco's Grille, has missed Wall Street sales estimates for six out of the last eight quarters, according to IBES data from Refinitiv, and its same-store sales have fallen in the past two years. (Reporting by Nivedita Balu in Bengaluru Editing by Leslie Adler)
