DenAmerica Corp. acquires Black-eyed Pea restaurant chain.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. and DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 3, 1996-- DenAmerica Corp. (AMEX: DEN), the nation's largest Denny's restaurant franchisee, announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the 130 unit Black-eyed Pea restaurant chain from Unigate PLC for approximately $65 million. The acquisition is expected to close prior to June 30, 1996 subject to certain conditions.

Black-eyed Pea restaurants are a casual theme dining concept emphasizing freshly prepared quality food, comfortable atmosphere, friendly service and reasonable prices. One hundred of the restaurants are company-owned and are concentrated in Texas, Oklahoma, Georgia, and the Washington, DC area. The other thirty are franchisee-owned and are concentrated in Colorado, Arizona and Florida.

DenAmerica will finance the acquisition via a $50 million sale leaseback transaction. The remaining $15 million will be financed by a seller note with a final maturity on March 31, 2002, although DenAmerica expects to repay the note in full by March, 31, 1997.

In the fiscal year which ended March 31, 1996, Black-eyed Pea had revenues of approximately $145 million and earnings of approximately $23 million before administrative expenses, interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. On a pro forma basis these earnings will be adjusted for the sale leaseback transaction, DenAmerica administrative expenses and other adjustments due to purchase accounting.

Jeffrey D. Miller, Chairman of DenAmerica said, "The Black-eyed Pea restaurants are very successful and have an excellent reputation in their core markets of Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado and Arizona. However, some of the outlying units may be candidates for conversion to the Denny's concept. Although Denny's has always been our primary concentration, we are very excited and proud to be adding the Black-eyed Pea units. They add another dimension to DenAmerica and provide significant value to our stockholders."

Jack Lloyd, President and Chief Executive Officer of DenAmerica added, "I am quite excited about this acquisition for both myself and DenAmerica. As a native Texan I was a frequent customer of Black-eyed Pea and always loved their food. Our goal is to maintain the existing high quality of service, food and atmosphere while attempting to solve certain problem locations and systematically expanding the concept into those areas where it can be most successful. In our opinion, Black-eyed Pea provides its customers a combination of excellent food and consumer value which is unmatched by any other restaurant concept."

DenAmerica Corp., headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, operates approximately 250 family-oriented, full-service restaurants, 180 of which are Denny's restaurants, located in 29 states in the West, Midwest and Southeast. In addition to Denny's, DenAmerica operates other family-style restaurants throughout the nation and the majority of the Black-eyed Pea restaurants are located in areas where DenAmerica already has an existing base of restaurants.

CONTACT: Jeffrey D. Miller

Chairman

Jack M. Lloyd

President and Chief Executive Officer

Todd S. Brown

Chief Financial Officer

DenAmerica Corp.

602/483-7055

or

Joseph N. Jaffoni

Robert L. Rinderman

Jaffoni & Collins Incorporated

212/505-3015