Muzinich takes control of Phoenix's Busaba Eathai

Publicly available documents reveal that a stake of at least 75% has been acquired by holding company Curry Acquisitions, which lists as its sole director Rafael Torres, head of private debt at Muzinich.

Sources told Unquote sister publication Debtwire that Muzinich has taken control of the business and that the process was an "amicable" one. A source also told Unquote that they understand that the reports are broadly accurate.

The company had faced compulsory strike-off action, which was discontinued in June.

Earlier filings reveal that Muzinich and Barclays provided Busaba with a £17m facility in 2016.

The casual dining chain generated an EBITDA loss of £400,000 in 2017, according to publicly available documents, down from positive EBITDA of £1.4m in the previous year.

Unquote was awaiting a response to a request for comment from Phoenix at the time of publication.

Previous funding
Phoenix acquired Busaba in a 2008 transaction valued at £21.5m, with capital drawn from Phoenix Equity Partners 2006.

Company
Founded in 1999 and headquartered in London, Busaba operates a chain of 13 Thai restaurants. The company generated a turnover of £29m in 2017, according to the aforementioned documents.

People
Busaba Eathai – Terry Harrison (managing director).

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