TAMPA, FL-OSI Restaurant Partners, the parent company of the Outback Steakhouse chain, is being acquired by a private-equity venture for $3.2 billion, or $40 per share. The buyers include firms Bain Capital Partners and Catterton Partners, as well as Outback founders Chris Sullivan, Robert Basham and J. Timothy Gannon.

The deal would take the New York Stock Exchange-traded company private. The parties expect to close the transaction by April, pending approval from shareholders.

OSI is currently trading at roughly $40, though the company's stock closed Friday at $32.43. The stock's 52-week high came in at $48.28, while its lowest trade was $27.30.

The new owners plan on further growing the chain, according to a statement released on the deal. "Our experience in the restaurant and retail sectors has convinced us that the OSI concepts have significant opportunity for continued growth and profitability," says Andrew Balson, a managing director at Bain Capital.

Outback has about 950 of its namesake restaurants both domestically and internationally. About 800 of its units are company owned, and the rest are operated by franchisees. OSI also runs 217 Carrabba's Italian Grills, 114 Bonefish Grills, 42 Fleming's Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bars, 37 Cheeseburger in Paradise units, 22 Roy's restaurants, five Lee Roy Selmon's locations and one Blue Coral Seafood and Spirits.

In OSI's most recently reported quarter, which ended June 30, Outback's same-store sales fell 3% year over year, while Carrabba's were down 2.1%. All of the company's chain brought in sales of just over $988 million, up 8% from the previous year, while income fell to $29.5 million from $40.4 million.

The sale of OSI is the latest in a string of publicly-traded retail and restaurant companies going private. Just last week three firms acquired the 168-restaurant Logan's Roadhouse chain from CBRL Group for $486 million.

Bain Capital has a history of taking retailers and restaurants private. The Boston-based company has made sizable investments in Burlington Coat Factory, Michael's and Toys "R" Us. Catterton Partners, of Greenwich, CT, has made investments in Build-A-Bear Workshop, Cheddar's Restaurant Holdings and P.F. Chang's China Bistro, among others.