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An activist investor that played a key role in pushing San Antonio-based CST Brands Inc. into a $4.4 billion sale last year is now taking aim at the parent company of fast food restaurant chains Taco Cabana and Pollo Tropical.
JCP Investment Management, an activist investor based in Houston, is trying to get three candidates on the board of Addison-based Fiesta Restaurant Group, the investor announced earlier this week. JCP is nominating Sbarro Chief Operating Officer John B. Morlock; James C. Pappas, managing member of JCP Investment Management; and private investor Joshua E. Schechter.
Fiesta’s decision to plug more than $70 million into efforts to expand the Pollo Tropical brand in Texas was “misguided,” JCP said in a statement Monday. JCP also disagrees with Fiesta about Taco Cabana’s growth potential. The Houston-based investment fund cited concerns about the lack of a permanent chief executive after CEO Timothy Taft left the company in September as grounds for a board shakeup. It also noted that there were rumors that Fiesta could enter a “strategic review process” — generally indicating that it’s considering a sale.
JCP said it has tried to reach an “amicable resolution” with Fiesta’s current leadership about the board’s makeup and governance issues, but the current board and leadership “have refused to engage meaningfully with us,” the firm said in a statement released Monday.
“JCP is concerned by the massive decline in value that Fiesta stockholders have suffered over the past several years,” the firm said.
The restaurant group responded to JCP’s move in a statement Tuesday, “Fiesta’s Board and management team are committed to acting in the best interests of all company stockholders and welcome their views in order to pursue a common goal of maximizing long-term stockholder value.”
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jfechter@express-news.net
Twitter: @JFreports
jfechter@express-news.net
Twitter: @JFreports
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