Cinven looking to offload Gondola

According to reports, the private equity house is looking to divest the business early next year.

The move towards exiting Gondola comes as private equity's appetite for casual dining continues to be strong, evidenced by the company's disposal of upmarket burger chain Byron to Hutton Collins for £100m this month.

Cinven carried out a public-to-private acquisition of Gondola in December 2006 in a deal valued at €559m, which saw Cinven buying up shares for £4.15 apiece, according to unquote" data.

Gondola was originally established as PizzaExpress in 1965, which remains the largest chain in the group with 477 restaurants out of a 750 total. Gondola generated pre-tax profits of £38.7m for the year ending on July 2012, on a turnover of £593m. It holds £1.1bn in debt, £519m of which is made of up of loan notes held by Cinven.

Cinven did not respond to queries prior to publishing. 

To find out more about private equity's love affair with casual dining, read our analysis here.

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