The Bay Restaurant Group, which operates La Tasca and Ha Ha Bar and Grill, has been put up for sale by its owners Kaupthing and Commerzbank for an estimated £70m, according to the Daily Telegraph.
Advisors McQueen are reported to be looking for buyers which could include private-equity owned Tragus, which owns Café Rouge, and Gondola, which owns Pizza Express, ASK and Zizzi.
Paul Symonds left the position of chief executive at Bay Restaurants in February with a view to fronting a bid for the company.
Suzanne Baker, the company's former commercial director, has been running the company since then.
The banks acquired the group last year in a debt-for equity swap after previous owner Robert Tchenguiz had his investments wiped out by the credit crunch.
In April 2007 Tragus came second in a bidding war with Tchenguiz's vehicle, R20, to acquire the La Tasca chain.
Tchenguiz bought the restaurant group for £123m and added it to its Laurel Pub Company.
R20 bought Laurel, which ran the Hogshead pub chain, for £151m in November 2004.
It then added the 80 sites, including the Slug & Lettuce brands, from the administrators of SFI Group for £80m and Yates's for £202m the following year, before adding the La Tasca assets.
Laurel was placed into administration in March 2008 before being bought back by R20 in a "pre-pack" deal.
R20's accounts published last October revealed liabilities exceeded assets by £28.2m.