Gresham backs Town Centre Restaurants in £48m deal

Gresham, the UK mid market private equity specialist, today announces that it has backed the secondary buy-out of Town Centre Restaurants (“TCR”) from HBOS IF, in a deal with a total funding package of £48m.

With over 50 sites in the UK's busiest town and shopping centres, Town Centre Restaurants is one of the UK’s largest privately owned restaurant groups, serving over three million customers every year. The company has three main brands – Café Giardino, Auberge and Azzurro.

Café Giardino is the largest branded counter service operator (over 40 sites) focussing on shopping centres in the UK. It serves a wide selection of healthy freshly made food. The menu ranges from full breakfasts, pastries and cakes, freshly made salads and sandwiches to baked potatoes and fresh pasta dishes. Auberge (nine units) and Azzurro (four units) are contemporary local bar restaurants serving French and Italian cuisine.

Over the last three years, the management team has focused on consolidating the existing business through refreshing the Café Giardino brand and estate. TCR has an ambitious strategy to rollout both the Café Giardino and restaurant concepts, doubling the size of the estate over the next four years.

Christian Bruning, Director at Gresham, who led the deal comments: “Mark Winter and the team at TCR have done a great job in preparing the business for a period of strong growth. We look forward to working with the team to deliver that growth.”

Mark Winter, Chief Executive of TCR, adds: “Partnering with Gresham will provide us with a strong platform from which to roll-out to our target areas. The new funding will enable us to make further improvements in our business and improve the service given to our customers.”

Christian Bruning led the Gresham deal team of Neil Scragg, Mike O’Brien and Simon Hemley. Both Christian and Neil have joined the board.

Richard Simpson, who has a successful background in the restaurant sector, has also joined the board as Chairman. Richard was Chairman of one of Gresham’s previous investments, Individual Restaurant Company (“IRC”). Gresham exited IRC in November through the sale of the business to Bank Restaurant Group plc for £41m, generating a return of 2.3 times their investment.

Debt was provided by Clydesdale Bank.