Chinese Investment Company to Buy British Restaurant Chain

(Hong Kong) – Hony Capital will buy British restaurant chain PizzaExpress for 900 million pounds, the investment company said on July 19.

PizzaExpress opened in 1965 in London to provide Italian food like pizza and pasta. It has 435 restaurants in Britain and 70 in other countries, including 12 in Hong Kong, nine in Shanghai and one in Beijing.

Hony Capital, a subsidiary of computer manufacturer Lenovo Group, will use a leveraged buyout model for the purchase, said Zhao Linghuan, the investment company's president. This means it will use PizzaExpress' assets as collateral to borrow money from banks and then uses those funds for the purchase.