Electra to float Hollywood Bowl in July

The offer will comprise the sale of shares by existing shareholders – Electra could reportedly see its 85% holding in the business reduced by as much as half. The IPO is expected to value Hollywood Bowl in the region of £280m.

Investec is acting as sole sponsor, financial adviser, bookrunner and broker for the IPO.

Founded in 2010 and headquartered in Hemel Hempstead, Hollywood Bowl is an operator of tenpin bowling alleys primarily located in leisure and retail parks. The company runs 54 sites under the Hollywood Bowl, AMF and Bowlplex brands.

In 2010, CBPE Capital had backed AMF Bowling's acquisition of Hollywood Bowl, taking a minority stake in the company through a £20m investment. Following the transaction, the group merged under the name The Original Bowling Company.

Electra acquired the business from CBPE in a deal valued at £91m in 2014. Electra invested £51m of equity in the transaction, alongside the company's management. GE, Barclays and Lloyds provided debt facilities to support the transaction.

In late 2015, the company acquired another tenpin bowling operator, Bowlplex, with listed entity Electra Private Equity deploying a further £10m to finance the purchase. Around the same time, Electra invested a further £11m to pre-emptively acquire a portion of the company's senior debt at a discount to par from one of its lenders.

Hollywood Bowl has seen healthy growth in recent months, with revenues increasing by 9% to £86m in the 2015 financial year, while adjusted EBITDA jumped by 41% to £20.6m. That growth seems to have intensified so far this year, with turnover in the six months to March 2016 reaching £55m while adjusted EBITDA in the same period increased by 53% to £16.8m.

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• Topics
• Exits
• Consumer
• UK / Ireland
• Electra Partners LLP
• IPO