Palatine backs Gusto MBO

Following the deal, the company is looking to add more UK sites to its existing network of nine restaurants. It currently has plans to open a new site in the Manchester city centre.

In October 2013, Palatine backed the £16m secondary management buyout of social housing contractor Forrest from LDC. A few months earlier, the GP held a final close for its second fund, meeting its hard-cap of £150m.

The vendor, Living Ventures, operates various other restaurant brands including Blackhouse, Australasia, Artisan and The Alchemist. It recorded group sales of £65m in the year ending in March 2014.

Debt
Barclays Bank and Beechbrook Capital provided debt for the deal.

Company
Knutsford-based Gusto was founded in 2007 and currently has operations in Alderley Edge, Cookridge, Cheadle Hulme, Didsbury, Edinburgh, Heswall, Knutsford, Liverpool and Newcastle. It has 400 employees and a turnover of £16.4m.

People
Palantine managing partner Gary Tipper and investment director Beth Houghton will take a seat on the company's board. Sue Crimes is managing director of Gusto. Tony Griffin is the company's operations director.

Advisers
Equity - BDO, Tim Clarke, Kieran Lawton, James Gregson (Corporate finance); Chris Heatlie, Robert Dawes (Financial due diligence); Emma Suchland, Lauren Fletcher (Tax); Marsh (Insurance due diligence); Quinn Partnership (Management due diligence); Shoosmiths (Legal).
Vendor - Deloitte (Corporate finance).
Management - Pinsent Mason (Legal).

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• Topics
• Consumer
• UK / Ireland
• Buyouts
• United Kingdom
• Palatine Private Equity