July 17 (Reuters) - Darden Restaurants ( DRI ), owner of

the Olive Garden ( DRI ) 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.