TowerBrook acquires Azzurri in £70m deal

The firm has taken the company out of administration in a £70m pre-pack deal. It is currently investing from its fifth-generation fund, which closed on $4.25bn in June 2019.

The company will close 75 of its 300 sites, with around 1,200 job losses.

Azzurri chief executive Steven Holmes said the coronavirus lockdown period had had a profound impact on the company and difficult decisions had been taken to protect the long-term future of the business.

The deal will see existing owner Bridgepoint exit the company, according to reports. 

Previous funding
Cinven took Gondola, the owner of Ask Italian and Zizzi, private in a £900m deal in December 2006.

In December 2014, Cinven sold the two restaurants to Bridgepoint for £250m, equating to a 7.9x run-rate EBITDA. According to Unquote sister publication Debtwire, HSBC, Lloyds, BankMed, Rabobank and RBS provided a £145m senior debt package to support the deal. The debt package included a £10m revolving credit facility and a £15m capex facility.

Company
Azzurri owns the Ask Italian, Zizzi and Coco di Mama restaurant chains and is based in London. Founded in 2014, the company employs more than 6,000 staff. For the year ending on 30 June 2019, it reported revenue of £299.4m and an adjusted EBITDA of £38.1m.

People
Azzurri – Harvey Smyth (chairman).

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• Topics
• Buyouts
• Exits
• UK / Ireland
• Consumer
• Bridgepoint
• Towerbrook Capital Partners
• United Kingdom