Restaurant Group's shareholders approve acquisition of Wagamama

The group chairman believes that this will allow them to have “a raft of new opportunities”.

Restaurant Group received 60% or 98,136,398 of the shareholders’ vote of the Restaurant Group has voted in favour of the proposed £357 million acquisition of Wagamama.

"We are pleased that the majority of our shareholders have approved the acquisition and the associated rights issue, and we would like to thank them for the support they have shown. We are confident that the deal will create significant long-term value,” Debbie Hewitt MBE, chairman of The Restaurant Group, said.

“The acquisition of Wagamama creates a raft of new opportunities for us to capitalise on in the months and years ahead. We look forward to welcoming the Wagamama team into the business post-completion and thank them alongside all of our Restaurant Group colleagues for keeping focused on delivering for our customers."

The approval comes after major shareholders such as Columbia Threadneedle, GrizzlyRock Capital and Vivaldi Asset Management expressed their opposition of the takeover, saying that its price is “far too large”.