Ruth's Chris Owner May Raise $200M

HEATHROW, FL-Locally based Ruth’s Hospitality Group Inc. seeks to raise up to $200 million in capital through the sale of various types of securities. The company, which owns Ruth’s Chris Steak House and a number of other restaurant chains, filed a Form S-3 shelf registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission late last week.

Ruth’s stated in a release that it has no current commitments or intentions to sell securities, but made its SEC filing for flexibility to access capital markets as needed. A written prospectus will be issued in advance of any securities offering, the company said.

Ruth’s Hospitality, which owns more than 150 company and franchise-owned locations worldwide, posted slightly lower first-quarter revenue of $97.5 million along with net income of $3.7 million, down 17.8% year over year. Sales at restaurants open longer than a year fell 18.5%.

In addition to the upscale Ruth’s Chris chain, the company owns Mitchell’s Fish Market, Mitchell’s Steakhouse and Cameron’s Steakhouse. Ruth’s Hospitality acquired those concepts from Columbus, OH-based Cameron Mitchell Restaurants LLC in February 2008.