News

Paulson & Co and TriArtisan Capital Advisors LLC said March 1 that they have closed their buy of P.F. Chang’s China Bistro Inc from Centerbridge. The deal, reportedly valued at $700 million, was announced in January.

PRESS RELEASE

NEW YORK and SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., March 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Paulson & Co. Inc. (“Paulson”), TriArtisan Capital Advisors LLC (“TriArtisan”) and Centerbridge Partners, L.P. (“Centerbridge”) today announced that they have closed a transaction in which Paulson and TriArtisan acquired P.F. Chang’s China Bistro, Inc. (“P.F. Chang’s” or the “Company”) from Centerbridge.

Jim Bell, CEO of P.F. Chang’s, said, “We want to thank Centerbridge Partners for their strong support of P.F. Chang’s. We are fortunate to have a partnership with Paulson and TriArtisan which will allow us to implement a collaborative growth strategy. Paulson and TriArtisan bring financial strength and expertise that will allow us to grow our dine-in and off-premises channels both domestically and internationally.”

The first P.F. Chang’s restaurant opened in 1993 in Scottsdale, AZ, where the Company is still headquartered, and has expanded to become a globally recognized brand known for authentic made-from-scratch Asian cuisine with focus on high-quality, fresh ingredients, and wok-trained chefs. Today the Company has more than 200 company-owned restaurants in operation and over 90 franchised locations globally across 24 countries.

John Paulson, Founder and President of Paulson, said, “P.F. Chang’s is a highly differentiated, iconic global brand with excellent financial performance and strong growth prospects. We are very excited to partner with P.F. Chang’s’ outstanding management team to drive the business forward.”

Rohit Manocha, a TriArtisan Founding Partner, said, “We intend to provide the management team with the resources to rapidly scale the business of providing high quality, contemporary Asian cuisine at a compelling value to our customers worldwide in both the off-premises and dine-in channels.”

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

BofA Merrill Lynch acted as lead financial advisor to the Company. Barclays also acted as financial advisor to the Company.  Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP served as legal counsel to the Company.

Credit Suisse served as Paulson and TriArtisan’s financial advisor for this transaction and Ropes & Gray LLP and Kleinberg, Kaplan, Wolff & Cohen, P.C. served as legal counsel.

About P.F. Chang’s

Founded in 1993, P.F. Chang’s is the first multi-unit restaurant concept in the U.S. to honor and celebrate the 2,000-year-old tradition of wok cooking as the center of the guest experience. Since inception, P.F. Chang’s chefs have been hand-rolling dim sum, hand chopping and slicing all vegetables and meats, scratch cooking every sauce and wok-cooking each dish, every day in every restaurant. P.F. Chang’s Farm to Wok menu highlights its wholesome, scratch-cooking approach and introduces new dishes and drinks for lunch, happy hour and dinner. Today, P.F. Chang’s has more than 300 restaurants in 24 countries and territories. For more on P.F. Chang’s, visit www.pfchangs.com.

About Paulson & Co. Inc. (“Paulson”)

Paulson & Co. Inc. is an investment management firm established by founder and President John Paulson in 1994 with offices in New York, London and Hong Kong.

About TriArtisan Capital Advisors LLC (“TriArtisan”)

TriArtisan Capital Advisors is an established, New York-based private equity investing firm. TriArtisan’s flexible institutional capital allows it to invest in companies requiring a broad range of investment needs including leveraged buyouts, growth equity investments, spin-offs, carve-outs, roll-ups, recapitalizations and restructurings. In each of its investments, TriArtisan partners with high quality management teams to support them in achieving returns for its institutional and management partners. For more information, please visit the firm’s website at www.triartisan.com.

About Centerbridge Partners, L.P. (“Centerbridge”)

Centerbridge Partners, L.P. is a private investment management firm employing a flexible approach across investment disciplines—from private equity to credit and related strategies, and real estate—in an effort to find the most attractive opportunities for our investors and business partners. The Firm was founded in 2005 and as of September 2018 has approximately $27 billion in capital under management with offices in New York and London.  Centerbridge is dedicated to partnering with world-class management teams across targeted industry sectors and geographies to help companies achieve their operating and financial objectives. For more information, please visit www.centerbridge.com.

For Paulson & Co