The Restaurant Group (TRG) has backed away from buying a gastropub chain as it focuses on pushing through the acquisition of Wagamama.
Peach Pub Company, which has 20 sites in villages and market towns across the Home Counties and the Midlands, was first reported to be seeking fresh investment in September.
TRG emerged as a possible buyer amid the company's plans to grow its pubs business which have recently seen it acquire pub chains Ribble Valley Inns and Food & Fuel.
But TRG is now understood to have pulled out of talks, as it prepares for a vote on its proposed Wagamama takeover on November 28.
The group, which owns leisure brands including Frankie & Benny's and Chiquito, announced its intention to acquire rival restaurant chain Wagamama in a deal worth £559 million in October.
It will embark on a rights issue to raise £315 million and draw on a £220 million revolving credit facility to bankroll the deal.
Some investors have come out in opposition to the acquisition, with US activists GrizzlyRock Capital and Vivaldi Asset Management saying it would "dramatically" weaken TRG's balance sheet.
But top-five shareholder JO Hambro has since voiced its support for the deal, while investor advisory service ISS has also urged clients to back the deal.
One other top-five shareholder has also anonymously indicated its support for the deal.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here