LDC – Equity Investor Looking to Sell Their Stake In Former Conran Restaurant Empire – D&D London
Location: London in a big way…Leeds, Manchester, Bristol in the UK – Paris, France and New York, USA
Name: D&D – founded by Des Gunewardena and David Loewi, in 2006
Guide Price: £100m
No. of Keys: 45 restaurants, bars and one hotel – 80 rooms
The Opportunity:
The owner of famous British restaurants including Coq d’Argent and Quaglino’s is braving headwinds caused by soaring inflation and staff shortages with an auction that could value it at £100m.
Sky News has learnt that the private equity firm LDC, the private equity arm of Lloyds Banking Group which has owned a majority share in the business since 2013, has asked corporate financiers at Interpath Advisory to launch a sale process for their stake in D&D London, the group founded by the late Sir Terence Conran.
City sources said that Interpath had been instructed to kick off talks with potential buyers after exclusive talks with Montecito Equity Partners, a little-known investment firm, failed to result in a deal.
D&D also operates prominent London venues such as the Bluebird in Chelsea and Skylon on the South Bank, and has seen a resurgence in sales since the hospitality sector was gripped by fears of a renewed crisis over the Omicron variant of COVID-19.
A D&D spokesperson declined to comment on the prospective sale process, but said current trading across its sites “is very strong”. It could command an enterprise value of in the region of £100m, according to one source.
The hotel is South Place located between Moorgate and Liverpool Street in the financial city area of London…very stylish as are all D&D venues. There were plans to open more hotels.
It is reported that Des Gunewardena and David Loewi would remain in their posts as chair and deputy chair, respectively, should the group be sold.
Flag & Management: Will remain as D&D
Current Owner: D&D – Des Gunewardena and David Loewi, who will retain their stake in the company
Main Photo: Quaglino’s, possibly the most famous restaurant in London, once the ballroom below the Hotel Meurice, a Trusthouse Forte hotel
Financials: Upon Application
Tenure: Mix of freeholds and leaseholds, we guess
Agent: THPT working this out
Date Posted: April 2022
THPT Comment: Hoteliers have always had a love-hate relationship with F&B/Restaurants…never reckoned they could make money…well the last 25 years have proved that theory wrong…starting with Des Gunewardena and David Loewi…and others – Chris Corbin and Jeremy King, who sadly rue the day they partnered up with hotel giant Minor Hotels, Nobu, Hard Rock….and Gordon Ramsey and his acolytes – who have actually done better than the Master! Pleased to see that Des & David will remain at the helm.
Hotel & Serviced Apartment owners can be naturally reticent in publicising their property is for sale…for confidentiality reasons, for staff and current client reasons, so the properties featured in this section will either be “generic” or “name specific”
Each week we mail the opportunities posted in that period, but check-out the tab “Hotels Available” and call us for details of “Under the Table” – deals not posted on the site at all.
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