Apollo's Tragus restructures debt, kicks off Strada sale

The company and its backers have agreed to a restructuring deal that will see Tragus's debt burden cut from £354m to £91m through a debt-for-equity swap.

Tragus's new owners have also committed £20m in fresh capital to the business and expect to see up to £110m in new investments for Tragus's Café Rouge and Bella Italia brands over the next five years.

The company has initiated company voluntary arrangements that will see some landlords of Tragus's 290-strong estate being asked to revise their lease terms.

As well as this, a sale process for the 56 Strada restaurants has begun, with reports pricing the assets at around £40m. Tragus has appointed Zolfo Cooper Corporate Finance to run the process, which the company hopes will be completed by the end of the summer.

Tragus was owned by Blackstone until earlier this year, when Apollo led a group of investors – including Oak Hill Capital Partners and York Capital Management – to buy up the struggling asset's debt burden from the GP, which had sought to narrow its losses by acquiring Tragus's debt, according to the Financial Times.

Blackstone had acquired Tragus in 2006 for £267m, with a weighty debt package of around £167m provided by Barclays.

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• Topics
• UK / Ireland
• Restructuring
• United Kingdom
• Blackstone Group
• Apollo Management