PW Partners & Luxor Capital Group Gets Three Seats on BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (BJRI)’s Board

In a new filing with the SEC, Christian Leone’s Luxor Capital Group revealed an agreement signed with BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI), under the terms of which, Luxor and its activist group will nominate three directors to be elected to the company’s board. Luxor holds a total of 3.20 million shares of the company, while the activist group owns in aggregate around 4.53 million shares, equal to 16% of the outstanding stock.

Luxor Capital has formed a group with Patrick Welsh’s PW Partners Atlas Fund and Jeffrey C. Neal from Horizon Capital. The group agreed to cooperate and seek representation on the company’s board. Under the terms of the new agreement signed with BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI), its board will be expanded to 11 members from 10, and the company agreed to nominate Patrick Walsh and Noah Elbogen to be elected by shareholders at the 2014 annual meeting, while  Mark A. McEachen is nominated effective immediately.

Moreover, as a part of the agreement,BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) announced a share repurchase authorization worth $50 million and an increase of its cost-cutting plans, which involve hiring a consultant, Luxor said in the filing.

Recently, BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) expanded its network of restaurants by opening a location in a town in Arkansas. Following the opening, BJ’s now owns 148 restaurants in the U.S. Overall, since the beginning of the year, the stock of the company edged down by 2% and trails a Price-to-Earnings ratio of around 41.xx, which is significantly above the industry average of 23.xx. The company will report its financial results for the first quarter of the year in a couple of weeks, while the consensus estimate for its EPS stands at $0.13 and revenues worth $204 million.

As of the end of last year, several notorious “hedgies” held shares of BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI). Steven Cohen of SAC Capital Advisors raised its position to 511,900 shares, while billionaires Ken Griffin and Israel Englander also hold significant stakes, with 1.20 million and 448,500 shares respectively.

Disclosure: none

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