-=Red Robin Gourmet (RRGB) : Vintage Capital pushes for strategic alternatives

Shares of Red Robin Grourmet Burgers Inc. (RRGB),  ran up 32% in active trade Thursday, after the restaurant chain disclosed that its third-largest shareholder, Vintage Capital Management LLC, said it was prepared to make a buyout bid for the company. In a letter Red Robin's board of directors, Vintage, which owns 1.5 million shares, or 11.5%, of Red Robin's outstanding shares, said it was prepared to pay $40 a share in cash an auction to buy the rest of Red Robin shares that it didn't already own. That would represent a 57% premium to the stock's Wednesday closing price, and would value the company at about $519 million. Earlier this month, Red Robin adopted a shareholder rights plan, known as a poison pill, aimed at protecting the company from a hostile takeover. Vintage said it has sought communication with management to help drive an improvement in the strategic direction and to help recruit "an 'A+' operator" to accept the chief executive officer role, given that "it is clear that many such quality candidates are refusing to entertain the opportunity due to the lack of confidence in the board's leadership and Red Robin's disastrous operating and market performance." Red Robin's stock has tumbled 52% over the past 12 months, while the S&P 500 (SPX) has gained 3.8%.

 Red Robin Gourmet responds to letter from Vintage Capital, says Board is actively engaged in driving strategic plan and remains open to all opportunities to create value

• "In multiple conversations with Vintage, we have expressed our openness to Vintage's participation in our ongoing search to identify a world-class CEO, and to maintaining a constructive dialogue. Given our dialogue to date, we were surprised by the content of the letter we received today, as Vintage has not been willing to propose any CEO candidates. As discussed with Vintage, we retained The Elliott Group in April 2019 to assist in our CEO search process, and the Search Committee is interviewing a number of highly qualified and interested candidates. We are pleased with our progress to date and confident we will identify an excellent leader for Red Robin. Concurrent with our CEO search process, Red Robin has a strategy in place to drive renewed growth and shareholder value, and we continue to execute on our 2019 strategic priorities"
• "The Company's Board of Directors is focused on enhancing shareholder value and is mindful of its fiduciary duties to all shareholders. Consistent with its fiduciary duties, the Board would of course consider any bona fide offer made by Vintage."