Smokey Bones at Broadcast Plaza.
Tim Reedy | Media News Group | Getty Images
Featured brands said on tuesday The company takes restaurant chains Twin Peaks and Smokey Bones to an initial public offering less than a week after federal authorities charged the restaurant company and its chairman, Andy Wiederhorn, with a $47 million bogus loan scheme. The company secretly applied to go public through the company.
Last year, Fat Brands announced its intention to spin off Twin Peaks through an IPO. At the time, the company had already disclosed a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into Wiederhorn.
On Thursday, Fat Brand, Wiederhorn and several others. criminal charges were filed A federal grand jury in Los Angeles indicted him on wire fraud, tax evasion and other charges related to the alleged scheme.separately A civil lawsuit has been filed The SEC on Friday charged the company and Mr. Wiederhorn with violations related to similar conduct.
Fat Brand and Wiederhorn have denied the charges through their lawyers.
Since its founding in 2005, Twin Peaks has grown to nearly 115 restaurants in the United States and Mexico. Phat Brands acquired the company in 2021. The sports bar chain, like Hooters, is known for its female staff’s revealing uniforms.
Smokey Bones is the newest addition to Fat Brands’ portfolio, which currently includes 18 chains. Owner of Olive Garden, Darden Restaurants, he founded his chain of barbecues in 1999 but later sold the brand. Phat Brands aims to acquire the company in September 2023 and convert more than half of its 61 company-owned restaurants to Twin Peaks locations.
“Our priority is to use the proceeds from any transaction to deleverage our balance sheet,” Wiederhorn said during the company’s first-quarter conference call on May 1 regarding a potential IPO. .
Wiederhorn owns a 45% stake in Phat Brands through Fog Cutter Holdings, according to FactSet.
The company’s stock price has fallen 9% this year, reducing its market value to about $90 million.
