Image via Flickr/ wht_wolf9653

Chuck E. Cheese, the children’s Vegas, is alive and well – and apparently worth a lot of cheddar!

Private equity firm Apollo Global Management announced today that it will acquire CEC, the company that operates 577 Chuck E. Cheese’s stores worldwide. The buying price was set at $950 million, or $54 per share. This is about 25 percent more than share prices on Jan. 7, when CEC stopped trading publicly.

Including Apollo’s assumption of CEC’s outstanding debts, the deal is worth a total $1.3 billion.

The deal isn’t completely finalized, according to the Wall Street Journal. It includes a “go-shop” period of two weeks, during which CEC can solicit higher offers.

Chuck E. Cheese’s is known for its combination of arcade games, pizza and robotic entertainment. But it’s been suffering in recent years as the children’s entertainment market becomes increasingly competitive.

Apollo aims to turn the company around after the acquisition and return it to its former profitable stature.

Katherine Pilnick

Katherine Pilnick primarily writes about money for Wall Street Insanity. She’s previously written for sites including Forbes, The Washington Post and Business Insider.

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