Ruth's Chris, or Ruth's Hospitality, Raising Cash (RUTH)

Ruth’s Hospitality Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: RUTH) has filed a shelf registration to raise capital. The owner of the Ruth’s Chris Steak House chain has filed a mixed securities shelf to raise up to $200 million in new capital.

The filing will allow the company to sell any combination of Common Stock, Preferred Stock, Depositary Shares, Warrants, Subscription Rights, Debt Securities, Share Purchase Contracts, and Share Purchase Units.  The company said the use of funds will be earmarked for the repayment of debt and/or for general corporate and working capital purposes.

The “additional registrants”  in the actual filing look to be operations in Texas, Louisiana, and Florida.  For a comparison on the size of the offering to the company today, the market cap as of today’s close at $3.40 per share was listed as $82+ million.

A personal note (and plea) from Houston…..  Dear Ruth, Please remodel your Richmond branch in Houston.  That version of Ruth’ Chris is long in the tooth and could use a face lift.

The full SEC Filing is here.

Jon C. Ogg
June 25, 2009