IRC serves up £2m fundraising
NORTH West dining company Individual Restaurant Company is set to raise £2m from an Open Offer to reduce debt.
Manchester-based IRC, the name behind the popular Piccolino and Restaurant Bar & Grill brands, said the Open Offer is being underwritten by retail magnate Malcolm Walker, the founder of Iceland, and the owner of a 4% stake in the AIM-listed company.
Finance director Vernon Lord told TheBusinessDesk: “This is about bring net debt down to more acceptable levels in this climate, and also giving us more flexibility to expand as opportunities arise.”
He said the aim of the process was to reduce debt from £18.5m to between £11m – £13m by the end of 2009.
“A year ago a 3x EBITDA multiple was considered fine, but now it’s a little steep and we want to get down to two or two-and-a-half times EBITDA. It’s a sensible thing to do – everyone seems to be doing balance sheet stuff at the moment.”
IRC, led by chief executive Steven Walker – who is not related to Malcolm Walker -operates 34 restaurants, and serves over 34,000 customers per week. There are 23 Piccolinos and 11 Bar & Grill sites.
Mr Lord said the business was trading in line with market expectations.
The Manchester office of European investment bank, Altium, has advised IRC on the fund-raising.
The Altium team was led by managing director of corporate finance, Mike Fletcher, assisted by David Foreman and Adam Sivner.
