Chuck E. Cheese’s To Merge and Go Public

Chuck E. Cheese’s, the family entertainment chain known for being “Where A Kid Can Be A Kid” (and eat pizza), has agreed to merge with Lion Capital’s acquisition company Leo Holdings Corp., Nation’s Restaurant News reported today. The deal is expected to go down in the second quarter, with the intent of offering shares publicly on the New York Stock exchange later this year.

NRN reports that the merger has an enterprise value of $1.4 billion, according to the companies. In addition to Chuck E. Cheese’s, the deal includes acquisition of Peter Piper Pizza, another chain owned by parent company CEC Entertainment Inc. CEC currently has 606 Chuck E. Cheese’s in 47 states as well as 144 Peter Piper Pizza units in six states, with both chains’ 2018 sales totalling $896 million, according to NRN.

Lion Capital has recently invested in several other restaurant brands, including Round Table Pizza, Marble Slab Creamery, Great American Cookies, Gordon Ramsay restaurants and Wagamama, according to NRN.