Hutton Collins buys Byron

Ellie Pullen
21 October 2013

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Hutton Collins Partners has acquired high-end burger chain Byron from Gondola for ТЃ100m, following months of interest from private equity firms.

The sale of Byron was reported to have attracted plenty of private equity attention over the summer. Unquote" reported in June that interested GPs included Lord Jacob Rothschild's RIT Capital Partners, French private equity house Quilvest, TDR Capital and Searchlight Capital Partners.

Hutton Collins already has experience in the UK's casual dining sector. In 2011, the firm took part in the acquisition of Japanese restaurant chain wagamama from Lion Capital for £215m, £90m of which was provided as debt by a syndicate of lenders. Hutton Collins acquired the business alongside Duke Street and Connection Capital.

The GP has also invested in Pizza Express, Loch Fyne Restaurants and coffee shop chain Caffè Nero. Hutton Collins provided mezzanine funding to the public-to-private of Pizza Express by TDR Capital in 2003, prior to the chain becoming part of the Gondola group.

Byron's seller, the Gondola Group, is owned by Cinven. The Gondola Group currently owns several casual dining chains in the UK including Pizza Express, Zizzi and Ask Italian. Cinven acquired the restaurant group in December 2006 alongside European Capital, which provided equity and mezzanine funding.

The take-private deal gave Gondola a market cap of £559m and an enterprise value of £900m. Cinven provided £290m in equity for the deal, according to unquote" data, with Bank of Scotland supplying a debt package worth £610m. According to Gondola's financial statement, the mezzanine facility provided in December 2006 totalled £60m.

Gondola was founded in 1965 and is headquartered in London. The group employs approximately 16,500 staff across more than 750 restaurants. In 2012, the group generated turnover of £591.7m, as well as an EBITDA of £108.1m.

Company
Founded in 2007, Byron is headquartered in London and currently employs 750 staff. The company currently operates 34 restaurants, which are focused on producing high-quality hamburgers. Byron's restaurants are predominantly situated in London but the company has recently expanded to open restaurants in Liverpool, Manchester, Cambridge, Kent and Oxford.

People
Harvey Smyth is the CEO of Gondola, while Tom Byng is the founder and CEO of Byron. Graham Hutton is a managing partner at Hutton Collins.

Advisers
Vendor – DC Advisory (Corporate finance).