Whitbread sells Pelican restaurants for £25m

The restaurant groups Pelican and BrightReasons have been sold by Whitbread for £25m.

Whitbread paid £133m for 104 Café Rouge and 14 Domes in 1996.

Management buy-in vehicle Tragus Holdings bought the Pelican and BrightReasons groups which comprise 153 restaurants including the Café Rouge, Bella Pasta, Mamma Amalfi, Abbaye, Leadenhall Wine Bar and Oriel brands.

Whitbread's decision to sell the business followed a review of its restaurant division in October 2001.

The group will focus on driving growth from restaurant brands Brewers Fayre, Brewsters, Beefeater, Costa, Pizza Hut and TGI Friday's.

Tragus is led by chief executive Finlay Scott, former head of the Aroma café chain and of Whitecross Dental Care.

The MBI team also includes Gavin Williams, (who was managing director of Bella Pasta between 1997 and 1999 and later of Aroma), who will be operations director, and Harry Morley, former finance director of Whitecross Dental Care.

Gavin Casey, former chief executive of the London Stock Exchange, becomes non-executive chairman. Richard Chapman and Ken Lindsay of ECI have also joined the board as non-executive directors.

Tragus plans to invest in and develop Café Rouge and Bella Pasta as leading family brands in the burgeoning dining-out and pizza / pasta sectors.

Plans include the development of all-day dining menus at Café Rouge and broadening the appeal of the Bella Pasta brand. The other restaurants will continue to be operated as niche brands.

Café Rouge was founded by Punch Taverns' Roger Myers and Spirit Group chief executive Karen Jones.

The £25m cash consideration is subject to adjustment for working capital after completion of the deal.

Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein acted as financial adviser to Whitbread. Altium Capital acted as financial adviser to Tragus Holdings.