The owner of Bathstore is in exclusive talks to take control of the UK arm of restaurant chain Pizza Hut.
Leeds-based turnaround specialist Endless is understood to be in discussions with Yum Brands – the US owner of Pizza Hut – over a franchise deal for the 340-strong restaurant group.
Endless is thought to be the last remaining bidder for Pizza Hut after two potential buyers pulled out.
Private equity firms Risk Capital Partners, run by former Pizza Express owner Luke Johnson, and Rutland Partners had previously been on a three-strong shortlist of bidders.
Yum Brands, which also owns KFC and Taco Bell, put Pizza Hut up for sale earlier this year.
But it will retain the rights to the Pizza Hut brand and is not including the delivery service in the deal.
Yum’s decision to offload the Pizza Hut restaurants comes nearly six years after it took full control of Pizza Hut UK, when it bought the 50 per cent stake it did not already own from Whitbread for £112 million. Pizza Hut employs about 16,000 people.