Rooney Anand to step away from Casual Dining Group

Rooney Anand will step down from his position as chairman of Casual Dining Group after less than two years in the role.

The former Greene King chief executive joined the business, which operates brands including Las Iguanas, Café Rouge and Bella Italia, in December 2018. He previously spent 14 years at the helm of the pub giant and was credited with transforming Greene King from a regional brewer and pub business to one of the UK's leading pub companies.

CDG is in exclusive talks with private equity firm Epiris regarding a potential buy-out. Administrators AlixPartners confirmed they are negotiating with Epiris regarding the acquisition of the business out of administration.

Casual Dining Group was placed into administration and closed 91 of its 250 sites earlier this month. The group said the closures would result in a number of redundancies across the business and that its board had received "multiple offers" that the administrators were exploring.