Tchenguiz pumps in £50m
Tycoon acquires Laurel assets with new equity
Property tycoon Robert Tchenguiz placed Laurel Pub Company in administration last Thursday, before immediately buying out the majority of its sites to place them in two new companies.
Tchenguiz family trusts have injected more than £50m of new equity into the business. Bay Restaurants and Town & City Pubs are two new companies that have been formed to acquire selected assets from within the former Laurel business.
Bay Restaurants will be "one of the leading operators in the casual-dining market" with 217 units across three industry-leading restaurant brands.
The restaurant business will comprise 84 Slug & Lettuce, 24 Ha Ha Bar & Grill and 24 pipeline sites, together with 85 La Tasca restaurants, which, as part of the transaction, are being merged with Bay Restaurants.
The new company is "described as the fourth largest casual-dining operator" in the UK. Town & City Pubs will comprise 161 pubs and bars comprising mainly of Yates's, together with an unbranded portfolio of quality managed pubs and bars.
While each business will be independent of the other, Ian Payne will be chairman of both companies. Paul Symonds will be chief executive of Bay and Toby Smith will be chief executive of Town & City.
Payne said: "We are confident that both the restaurant and pubs and bars portfolios acquired are high quality and robust."
Kroll, the corporate advisory and restructuring group, has been appointed as the administrator to Laurel and will attempt to sell around 90 sites that have been closed in recent weeks.
