New activist joins calls for TRG break-up

TMR Capital has become the latest activist hedge fund to take a stake in Wagamama owner The Restaurant Group (TRG) as pressure builds on the company to break itself up, according to report by The Sunday Telegraph.

TMR has reportedly presented proposals to TRG's chief executive Andy Hornby and chairman Ken Hanna for the sell-off of all of the company's brands – including the Frankie & Benny's chain of Italian-American restaurants – and focus solely on Wagamama.

The British Virgin Islands-based investment company is the fourth activist to take a position in TRG, one of Britain’s biggest restaurant chain owners, and believes that the company's future is as a private business.

After selling all other including the Chiquito chain of Mexican restaurants, TMR wants TRG to focus on expanding Wagamama before taking it private.

The report quotes Derek Vago, a strategic advisor at TMR Capital, as saying: "We want [TRG] to acknowledge that the future is not as a PLC. Everything is non-core other than Wagamama."