Telecoms entrepreneur sells stake in gastropub group
PRIVATE equity firm Penta Capital has acquired a majority stake in The Seafood Pub Company.
It has arranged an £18m funding package to support the deal and provide funds for expansion, which includes additional debt support from RBS Manchester.
Founded in 2010 by Joycelyn Neve, the Seafood Pub Company commenced trading in 2011 with its initial pub, The Oyster & Otter in Blackburn. Today it comprises a portfolio of eight individual food pubs in the North West, four of which have boutique bedroom accommodation.
Prior to the deal, Matthew Riley, the founder of telecoms business Daisy Group, was the major shareholder of the company.
Riley held 69% and executive chairman Andrew McLean held around 30% of the holding company, which itself owned 90% of the trading company, according to records at Companies House.
McLean, an experienced specialist in the acquisition and development of hospitality properties, founded The Devonshire Pub Company in 1991 which grew from 25 to 120 sites under his tenure.
Joycelyn, who originates from a long line of fishermen, was 25 when she founded the business and both McLean and Riley are understood to have been significant mentors as she established an impressive reputation in the hospitality sector. Chris Neve, Joycelyn’s father, is still involved in the business.
The Clitheroe-based company has ambition to more than double its pub portfolio and expand to 20 sites over the next three to five years.
The acquisition strategy will continue to focus in the North through a combination of freehold and leasehold sites spreading its geographic footprint into Cheshire, the Lake District and North Yorkshire.
The company has a stated strategic objective to maintain a minimum 70% freehold estate and recently secured its ninth site, The Forest Inn in Fence near Pendle, which is due to open next month.
This latest addition to the Seafood Pub Company stable is the sixth freehold within the portfolio and will also provide accommodation with eight boutique bedrooms. A tenth site has also been identified and is due to be announced shortly, the compant said.
Ian Edward, chairman of Brasserie Blanc and co-founder of Hippo Inns, has been appointed as a non Eexecutive director of the company.
Joycelyn and other members of the management team will remain shareholders in the company and will continue to lead growth of the business.
Joycelyn Neve, managing director of The Seafood Pub Company, said: “We are delighted to partner with Penta Capital which has a proven track record of backing a number of other successful pub and leisure retail businesses. Torquil and the team at Penta totally buy-into our strategy and their support and expertise will be invaluable as we take the business to the next level. We have exciting expansion plans and this partnership will enable us to realise those and further accelerate our growth.”
Torquil Macnaughton, managing partner of Penta Capital, said: “We were attracted to The Seafood Pub Company’s unique proposition and the fact that it had demonstrated an impressive track record of growth since its inception only six years ago. Joycelyn is a talented, young entrepreneur and we look forward to working together with her, and the wider management team, to continue to build the business and support this new phase of development for the Company.”
TheBusinessDesk contacted Matthew Riley but he declined to comment on the deal.
