Richard Caring, owner of celebrity haunt The Ivy, today sold his Italian restaurant chain Strada for £140m - more than twice the price he paid for the business less than two years ago.
Mr Caring has agreed to sell the 55-outlet Strada group to restaurant business Tragus, owned by private equity group Blackstone.
The entrepreneur, ranked 177th in The Sunday Times Rich List with a £450m fortune, paid £60m for Strada when he bought the group from Channel 4 chairman and former Pizza Express boss Luke Johnson in September 2005.
Tragus will add the Italian chain to its existing 179-strong portfolio, which includes Cafe Rouge and Bella Italia. The Strada business consists of 50 Strada restaurants, plus five under the Belgo and Bierodrome brand.
Tragus said it hoped to expand the Strada chain to 150 sites across the UK, growing at a pace of around 10 a year.
The deal marks the second for Tragus under the ownership of Blackstone, which bought the group for £267m in December. Tragus acquired 16 MA Potters chargrill and pizza/pasta restaurants just three months ago.
But Blackstone reportedly faced competition from property billionaire Robert Tchenguiz in the Strada acquisition, who is said to have been planning to gatecrash the deal.
It is believed Mr Tchenguiz's hopes of securing the chain were scuppered by an exclusivity deal signed between Blackstone and Mr Caring, thought to prevent him from holding takeover talks with other suitors until mid-June.
Mr Tchenguiz did, however, trump Tragus in the takeover of tapas chain La Tasca last month, out-bidding the group with a £104m offer.Tragus had originally secured La Tasca backing for an initial £96m agreed bid.
Tragus is yet to decide on the management team going forward for Strada, currently led by chief executive Andy Bassadone, which operates in the mid-market, casual dining sector.
