Mayfair buys Yo! Sushi from Quilvest

Greg Gille
24 November 2015

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Mayfair Equity Partners has acquired a controlling stake in London-based sushi restaurants chain Yo! Sushi from Quilvest Private Equity for a total consideration of ТЃ82m.

Mayfair, which was set up recently by former LDC executive Daniel Sasaki, had been linked to a potential deal as early as September, with other suitors reportedly including Inflexion.

Despite having launched just a few months ago, Mayfair has so far made four investments. Following an investment in energy business Ovo in April, the GP acquired a majority stake in the £50m buyout of fishing tackle company Fox International. It also backed the management buyout of Hotels & More from Austrian business Travel Partner in October.

Quilvest stated net revenues have almost tripled since its 2008 buyout, equating to a compound annual growth rate of 14%. The company's UK restaurant footprint has grown from 30 sites to 75 currently, while it pursued international expansion in existing territories as well as new countries such as Norway, Denmark and the US.

Debt
Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking and ICG provided debt facilities to support the transaction.

Previous funding
Quilvest bought Yo! Sushi from Primary Capital and founder Simon Woodruffe in 2008. The secondary management buyout was at the time reported to be valued around the £50m mark. The debt – a package of senior, mezzanine, capex and revolving credit facilities – was provided by Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets. The deal saw Primary make a money multiple in excess of six times its original investment.

Company
London-based Yo! Sushi was founded in 1997 by Simon Woodroffe. The company operates a chain of conveyor belt restaurants serving sushi and other Japanese specialities. The business has 91 restaurants worldwide, including 12 franchised locations, and serves 7 million customers a year.

Yo! Sushi is understood to have generated revenues of around £76m and EBITDA of £10m in the most recent financial year.

People
Ali Khanbhai worked on the deal for Quilvest. Robin Rowland is the current executive chair of Yo! Sushi.

Advisers
Vendors – Canaccord Genuity (M&A); Proskauer Rose (Legal); PwC (Financial due diligence, tax); Parthenon (Commercial due diligence).