Oasis goes public over Wagamama owner concerns

The private investment fund said TRG's trajectory indicates little hope for the future.

Private investment fund Oasis Management has made a public statement, urging Wagamama owner, The Restaurant Group (TRG), to do an overhaul of its business strategies after TRG rebuffed a private approach on the matter.

Oasis, which owns a 6.5% stake in TRG, said that it has been engaging with TRG for several years based on a firm belief that the Company possesses a strong portfolio of core assets, including Wagamama, the restaurant chain, and Brunning & Price, the pub group.

“However, despite the considerable value of these assets, TRG has one of the worst performing share prices of any UK leisure company; materially worse than its closest peers, and disproportionately worse than what the impact of the challenging sector backdrop would alone justify,” Oasis said in a statement.

Oasis said that the poor shareholder experience of this long-term decline in market value is further exacerbated when taking into account the company’s three equity raises since 2018, with proceeds totalling £547m. Since the close of the latest of these rounds in March 2021, the share price has fallen approximately 65%, reducing the Company market capitalisation to around £265m, just half of the combined proceeds raised. Since the close of the first raise in 2018, used to fund the acquisition of Wagamama, the share price has plummeted by approximately 70%.

The investment fund also said company announcements and market consensus indicate little hope for the future based on the current trajectory

“We implore the Board to urgently discuss with its shareholders the necessity for meaningful, immediate and near-term governance change at TRG to promote alignment with the shareholder perspective,” Oasis said

The firm said it expects that a process should be conducted separately from the scheduled annual outreach which seeks support for general meeting items and held independently of management to allow shareholders to provide meaningful input on the future composition of the Board.

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