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Consortium Brand Partners-led group to buy California

Pizza

Kitchen

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Eldridge Industries is also part of the buyer group

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California Pizza Kitchen emerged from bankruptcy five

years ago

By Abigail Summerville

Nov 20 (Reuters) - California Pizza Kitchen has signed a

deal to be acquired by an investor group led by Consortium Brand

Partners and including Todd Boehly's investment firm Eldridge

Industries, for under $300 million, according to sources

familiar with the matter.

The investment represents an opening foray into the

restaurant category for Consortium Brand Partners, which owns

activewear brand Outdoor Voices, home decor company Jonathan

Adler, and lifestyle brand Draper James, which was founded by

actress Reese Witherspoon.

Investment bank Piper Sandler was running a sale process

for California Pizza Kitchen, which had been owned by lenders

following a July 2020 bankruptcy triggered by a pandemic

slowdown and a heavy debt load from its previous private equity

owner.

The sources spoke on condition of anonymity as the

information is private.

Eldridge and Piper Sandler declined to comment. CPK and

Consortium Brand Partners did not immediately respond to comment

requests.

Eldridge Industries is a well-known investor in consumer

businesses, as well as insurance, technology and sports. Its

restaurant investment business, Convive Brands, which owns Le

Pain Quotidien and The Little Beet, will help operate CPK

restaurants following the deal, the sources said.

The first California Pizza Kitchen restaurant launched in

1985 in Beverly Hills. It now has nearly 200 locations globally.

The company's value has increasingly skewed toward its

brand, as opposed to the restaurants, the sources said. It has a

partnership with Nestle to sell its frozen pizzas in

grocery stores across the country, and a partnership with

manufacturer Litehouse to sell its CPK-branded salad dressings

in stores.

Elsewhere in pizza chain deals, investment firms have been

circling Papa John's. Yum Brands ( YUM ) is considering

a sale of Pizza Hut, and MTY Food Group ( MTYFF ), the parent

company of dozens of restaurant concepts including pizza chain

Papa Murphy's, is exploring a sale.