Skylark Sells $419 Million in New Shares to Nomura, Nikkei Says

By Stuart Biggs

Nov. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Skylark Co., a Japanese restaurant chain, will sell more than 40 billion yen ($419 million) of new shares in a private placement to major shareholder Nomura Holdings Inc., Nikkei English News reported today.

Skylark will also shut outlets and sell two subsidiaries to help the company restructure and reduce debt, Nikkei reported, without saying where it obtained the information. Skylark expects the two subsidiaries to fetch 10 billion yen, the report said.

Nomura Principal Finance Co., the securities firm’s investment arm, holds 62 percent of Skylark, Nikkei said. The group’s total investment in the chain will reach 140 billion yen when it buys the new shares, according to the report.

Skylark posted losses for two consecutive years through fiscal 2007 as sales at family restaurants in Japan fell for 11 years in a row, the report said. Nomura and British private equity fund CVC Capital Partners Ltd. own a combined stake of more than 97 percent in Skylark, the report said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Stuart Biggs in Tokyo at sbiggs3@bloomberg.net.