New Owners For Chuck E. Cheese (Maybe)

Private-equity firm Apollo Global Management wants to buy CEC Entertainment, parent of the Chuck E. Cheese’s brand, in a deal worth about $1.3 billion, including debt assumption. CEC owns and franchises 577 Chuck. E. Cheese units in 47 states and 10 other countries and territories; it owns 522 of those locations in the U.S. and Canada.

CEC’s board unanimously approved the Apollo deal but reserved the option of seeking a higher bid until Jan. 29 and adopted a “poison pill” that allows for shareholders to exercise an option if an investor other than Apollo acquires more than a 10% interest in CEC.