Town Centre Restaurants completes secondary buyout
Town Centre Restaurants (TCR) has completed a secondary buyout, which has seen private equity group Gresham buy Bank of Scotland's 70% stake in the business for £48m.
The casual dining and café business, which runs the Café Giardino, Auberge and Azzurro brands, will use the cash to fund an aggressive rollout programme.
TCR chief executive Mark Winter said the group planned to double turnover from £30m to £60 in five years by growing from 53 to 100 units.
Winter said: "Bank of Scotland was brought to consolidate the business and take out a few loss-makers when we came of the stock market. Gresham will now give us a strong platform to deliver growth."
As part of the deal, two Bank of Scotland backers will be replaced on the board by Gresham directors Christian Bruning and Neil Scragg.
Richard Simpson, who formerly worked for leisure giant Whitbread and the Independent Restaurant Group, will become non-executive chairman.
TCR currently operates 40 Café Giardinos, nine Auberges, and four Azzurros. In five years time, Winter said there would be 80 Giardino sites and about 10 Auberge and 10 Azzurro units.
Giardino goes private and says farewell to founders >>
Town Centre Restaurants website >>
By Tom Bill
E-mail your comments to Tom Bill here.
Get your copy of Caterer and Hotelkeeper every week -
|