Restaurant Chain Says It Will Study Offer by Solimon

Restaurant Associates Industries Inc. said Friday that it will consider an $80-million management buyout proposal along with a $94.8-million takeover offer from Newport Beach restaurateur Anwar S. Solimon.

The management group--led by Martin Brody, chairman and chief executive officer, and Max Pine, president and chief operating officer--has offered $14 a share in a leveraged buyout that would take New York-based Restaurant Associates private.

Apparently spurred by the management proposal, Solimon on Thursday offered $16.50 a share for Restaurant Associates, whose holdings include California’s Acapulco restaurants. Earlier this year, Solimon formed American Restaurant Group Inc. of Newport Beach and bought 328 restaurants from Marriott Corp., including the Stuart Anderson’s Black Angus, Spoons, and Velvet Turtle chains.

A special committee of Restaurant Associates’ board of directors is considering both proposals. The company operates more than 105 restaurants, including Long Beach-based Acapulco Restaurants; the Charlie Brown’s dinner house chain on the East Coast; the famed Mama Leone’s in New York; and 154 Eastern Lobby Shops newsstands in 11 cities.