DRI - Ruth's Chris officially joins Darden Restaurants' portfolio of restaurant chains

2023-06-14 09:15:24 ET

Darden Restaurants ( NYSE: DRI ) announced on Wednesday that it completed the acquisition of Ruth's Hospitality Group ( RUTH ).

The closing means that the Ruth's Chris Steak House brand joins the Darden ( DRI ) portfolio of brands that include Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Yard House, Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen, The Capital Grille, Seasons 52, Eddie V's and Bahama Breeze.

The Ruth's Chris chain has 155 locations around the globe, including 81 company-owned or company-operated restaurants and 74 franchised restaurants.

In connection with the completion of the merger, Ruth's common stock ceased trading on Nasdaq on Wednesday.

Cowen analyst Andrew Charles said Ruth's Hospitality fits Darden's ( DRI ) loose acquisition criteria for a full service brand not in need of turnaround and with the ability to make a difference in the portfolio over the next 5 years. Cowen likes that Ruth's increases Darden's exposure to the higher income consumer and gives it a small international presence with 22 locations across 9 countries.

More on Darden Restaurants:

• Details about the Ruth's deal
• Darden Restaurants: Relatively Weak Financials To Get Better With Acquisition
• Darden Restaurants: To See Normalized EPS Growth In The Near Term
• Relative strength index and moving averages on Darden
• Financial comparisons to Darden's sector peers
• The Seeking Alpha Quant Rating on Darden

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