HOUSTON — Landry’s Restaurants Inc., which has about $150 million in restaurant, hotel and entertainment property in Galveston and Kemah, said Wednesday it was reviewing strategic alternatives, including selling the company to its chief executive.
Last week, Landry’s CEO and largest shareholder, island native Tilman J. Fertitta, offered to take the company private and spin off its subsidiary, steakhouse chain Saltgrass Inc.
The Houston-based restaurant chain said a special committee of directors had been formed to review options.
Fertitta launched a similar privatization bid in 2008, offering $13.50 per share.
He shelved that offer this winter when a conflict arose with the Securities and Exchange Commission and lenders about disclosing terms the lenders insisted were confidential.
In May, Fertitta owned about 55 percent of Landry’s, according to investor Web site LionShares.
Landry’s restaurants holdings include Rainforest Cafe, Landry’s Seafood House, Willie G’s, Fisherman’s Wharf and Fish Tales in Galveston, and the sprawling Boardwalk entertainment complex in Kemah.
The company, the nation’s second-largest operator of seafood restaurants, also owns the Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas and Laughlin, Nev.
So far, no decision about the company’s future has been made, and the special committee has retained independent legal advisers and hired Moelis & Co. LLC as its financial adviser.
Shares of Landry’s rose 29 cents, or 2.7 percent, to $18.54 in late afternoon trading Wednesday.
