IHOP gobbles up Applebee's

I'm not sure why IHOP want its, but it got it. IHOP (NYSE: IHP) has agreed to buy Applebee's (NASDAQ: APPB) for $25.50 a share, or $2.2 billion. The deal comes at a premium of just 4.6% to Friday's closing price, and stock traded above $26 as recently as last month. The deal probably won't be too pleasing to the company's major shareholders like Richard Breeden, who is credited with forcing the sale of the company.

But I'm not surprised by the low price the company fetched, and I've thought since the beginning that Breeden was barking up the wrong tree. On June 29th, I wrote about the epic tale of the Decline and Fall of Applebee's. Even company founder T.J. Palmer has blasted that company, saying that "It doesn't have anything that would make me want to come back."

Maybe IHOP can work some magic and turn the chain around, but it might be difficult. The company is financing the entire acquisition with debt, and may not be so quick to provide the face lift the restaurants so badly need.

But then again, IHOP's revenue in 2006 was lower than it was in 2002. So maybe this is a case of two drunken sailors trying to hold each other up. There's nothing much to get excited about for shareholders of either company.