Pizza Express entrepreneur Hugh Osmond buys Strada restaurants

Prezzo and Nando’s were rumoured to be among other buyers interested in Strada, which Tragus has been trying to offload as part of a large financial restructuring.

Strada was founded in 2000 by Luke Johnson - Mr Osmond’s Pizza Express business partner - who sold it five years later for £60m to British billionaire and owner of The Ivy, Richard Caring. Tragus, owned at the time by Blackstone, bought the brand for £140m in 2007.

Mr Osmond, who co-founded the British pub group Punch Taverns, told the Telegraph that he has been looking to get back into the restaurant and bar business for the last two to three years.

“I miss them deeply,” he said. Strada “is a very good brand, and despite a long period of underinvestment has held up pretty well. It’s still, essentially, a good idea.”

It wasn’t clear, however, whether Sun Capital will rename the chain or keep the Strada brand.

“We haven’t decided,” Mr Osmond told the Telegraph, adding that a decision would probably be made in the new year after consideration of the brand’s loyal customers and staff . “We wouldn’t get rid of it lightly.”

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