RICHARD CARING, the multimillionaire rag trade tycoon, has bought Signature Restaurants, controlled by Luke Johnson, the Channel 4 chairman, in an estimated £57 million deal.

It is understood that Mr Caring agreed the sale last week. The deal includes 25 Strada pizza restaurants, two Belgo sites and three Bierodrome restaurants, as well as naming rights to the brands.

It is thought that Mr Caring plans to invest a further £60 million to expand the Strada brand to more than 100 restaurants across the UK.

Sources close to Mr Caring said: “He really believes in the brand and wants to expand it aggressively.” Strada management is expected to remain with the group.

This year Mr Caring, 55, beat off competition to buy The Ivy and five other plush London restaurants — Le Caprice, J Sheekey, Daphne’s, Bam-Bou and Pasha — from Signature Restaurants in a deal estimated to be worth £31.5 million. This latest deal provides a mid-market chain to Mr Caring’s burgeoning restaurant empire. He is in talks to open The Ivy on Broadway in New York.

He has amassed an estimated £300 million fortune supplying Philip Green’s shopping empire, which includes Top Shop and Dorothy Perkins. He had maintained a low profile, but the purchase of The Ivy and the Wentworth Golf Club pushed him into the spotlight.

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