A chance to join the game of celebrity shares
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Want to join the ranks of Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis and Demi Moore and, along the way, help them get even richer than they already are? Then line up your spare change for the upcoming public offering by Planet Hollywood.
The theme burger and pizza chain co-founded by Robert Earl, the British restaurateur, and his Hollywood producer partner, Keith Barish, has finally confirmed the rumours: come the spring it will be offering shares to the public in a bid to pay off its debts and further fuel its world-wide expansion.
The announcement, made in an official filing last week with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, is just the latest hot news to come from the theme restaurant industry that is suddenly bursting out around the world, especially in New York.
While it has set no price for its shares, Planet Hollywood expects to raise $190m (pounds 130m) from its sale, of which about $130m will be used to pay off institutional investors. Also expecting to be paid back is the Singapore tycoon Ong Beng Seng, who helped bankroll the chain at its inception in 1991.
Also smacking their lips are the chain's dazzling stable of celebrity investors. In its SEC filing, the company says it plans to distribute nearly 13 million so-called "celebrity shares" to these investors who have promoted the restaurants by attending openings and tantalised customers with the prospect that they might drop by themselves for a casual bite.
The founding celebrities in the chain include not just Stallone, Willis and Moore, but also Arnold Schwarzenegger, Monica Seles, Andre Agassi and Shaquile O'Neal. Among new celebrity stockholders are Cindy Crawford, Tom Arnold, Wesley Snipes, Melanie Griffith and Jean-Claude Van Damme. Together the famous names will hold about 16 per cent of the company.
In a highly unusual, not to say intriguing, clause the sale prospectus stipulates that these investors will be released from the usual no-sale- before-180-days provision if a director of the company is faced by "drug- related charges", a criminal charge or other embarrassing charges.
New paper fortunes will also be made for both Mr Barish and Mr Earl, who currently hold 28.6 per cent of the chain, compared with Mr Ong's 24.2 per cent. Mr Earl made his first fortune when Hard Rock Cafe, which he also founded, was sold to Rank. He recently ended a court battle with Rank over his departure from Hard Rock to set up the rival Planet Hollywood.
There are currently 28 Planet Hollywood restaurants around the world and the company recorded its first profit last year, $20.7m on revenue of $270.6m. Like other theme restaurants, it derives a large part of its revenue - 38 per cent last year - from the sale of merchandise.
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