Hony gobbles up PizzaExpress for $1.5b

China's Hony Capital Ltd's acquisition of the United Kingdom restaurant chain PizzaExpress Ltd, the largest acquisition in five years in the European restaurant sector, also signifies China's soaring appetite for foreign food.

Beijing-based private equity firm Hony Capital announced on Saturday that it will buy PizzaExpress for about 900 million pounds ($1.54 billion). Hony will take control of the pizza producer from Gondola Group Ltd, owned by the London-based private equity firm Cinven Ltd.

PizzaExpress has 436 sites in the UK and 68 sites internationally, with 22 in China (12 in Hong Kong, nine in Shanghai and one in Beijing), according to a joint statement by Gondola and Hony.