Breeden takes a bite of Applebee's

Posted Apr 26th 2007 3:45PM by Tom Taulli
Filed under: Private Equity, Citigroup Inc. (C)

Former Chairman of the SEC, Richard Breeden, is making a nice debut as a hedge fund manager. His fund, Breeden Partners, has been pursuing the beleaguered Applebee's International (NASDAQ: APPB).

In other words, Breeden bought up some stock and launched a proxy fight.

Today, Applebee's has caved in and is bringing Breeden on as a board member, as well as Laurence Harris (an attorney). Breeden had been given four board seats.

No doubt, Applebee's was an easy target. The stock price had lagged for some time.

But, with lots of private equity money sloshing around, it now looks like Applebee's may ultimately succumb to a buyout. The company has hired Citigroup (NYSE: C) to explore the alternatives.

Applebee's stock was up $0.94 to $26.77 on the news.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

Tags: APPB, Applebee's, C, Proxy fight, ProxyFight, Richard Breeden, RichardBreeden