Management buyout deal at Conran completed

The senior management team at Conran Restaurants has completed a management buyout from parent company Conran Holdings this week.

The management team - headed by Des Gunewardena and David Loewi and backed by Bank of Scotland - have now acquired a 49% stake in Conran Restaurants.

The deal, thought to include Guastavino's, the banqueting venture in New York and Conran Holdings' investment
in the AIM-listed Bank Restaurant Group, values the group at £50m.

Bank of Scotland has pledged a further £10m to fund new ventures, which will include six new restaurants within the next 12 months. Three will be within a waterfront development in Copenhagen, a further two are planned for Tokyo and another will be part of the newly refurbished Royal Festival Hall at London's South Bank.

The new restaurant group - which will be renamed shortly - is expected to try to build on the success it enjoyed at the Great Eastern hotel and develop other hotels' food and beverage operations.

Gunewardena will succeed Sir Terence Conran as chairman of the restaurant group, while David Loewi will remain as managing director.

Des Gunewardena, chairman and chief executive of the new group said: "The success of Conran Restaurants was built on being innovative and entrepreneurial. Though what we do in the next 10 years may be different from what we have done in the past 10, this spirit of enterprise will remain unchanged."

By Emily Manson

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