Pizza Express could be subject to a £1bn joint takeover by Chinese private equity giant Hony Capital in partnership with a UK or US partner, according to Sky News.

The UK pizza chain has been put up for auction by its current UK private equity owners Cinven, which bought the chain in 2006 as part of the Gondola Group.

With nearly 500 restaurants in the chain, Pizza Express has been put on the slab for £1bn, with the auction being run by Goldman Sachs.

PizzaExpress turned over more than £600m in the year to June 30th 2013, losing £79m pre-tax after £110m of interest payments on its £1.2bn mountain of debt, of which £651.5m is owned by shareholders.

Sky said its sources said that Fosun, the Chinese conglomerate which owns a stake in the French holiday company Club Med, and Beijing-based Citic Capital Partners were also watching the auction, while UK funds such as Advent International and TPG have eschewed offers.

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