M Restaurant’s Martin Williams on Wagyu, division bells and building a brand January 25, 2016 There is something of the Midas touch about Martin Williams. Forty minutes into an interview about his restaurants, M Threadneedle Street and M Victoria Street – currently two of the capital’s trendiest hangouts – he mentions his previous life as an actor. Despite being successful on stage and TV in his early twenties, the on-off [...]
O2 arena plans for a new designer outlet win £185m backing from Lloyds Banking Group January 21, 2016 Lloyds Banking Group is backing the owners of the O2 arena in Greenwich with a £185m loan to finance the building of a new designer shopping outlet to rival Bicester Village and Wembley. The loan by Lloyds’ commercial banking arm will allow the O2’s owners AEG and Crosstree Real Estate, to push ahead with the [...]
Darkhorse Stratford restaurant review: more nag than stallion January 20, 2016 I'm calling January 2016 as the moment the restaurant template that's dominated London for the last five years finally jumped the shark. Far too many new openings appear to have been cobbled together, Inception-style, from my memories of other restaurants, from the interior design to the locally sourced, modern European menus. There's a cynicism to the uniformity. It's a formula that [...]
City Moves for 19 January 2016 | Who’s switching jobs January 19, 2016 Bryan Cave International law firm Bryan Cave has announced two new appointments to its London office. Corporate partner Sarah Atkinson joins the transactions client service group from Hogan Lovells. Associate Yannis Erifillidis joins the financial services client service group from Norton Rose Fulbright. Sarah’s experience concentrates on cross-border M&A, private equity and general corporate advisory work. [...]
Private equity firms dine out on restaurant chains January 19, 2016 The restaurants and bar sector was a veritable feeding frenzy of deals last year, with more choice of companies to buy than an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet. Robust trading conditions thanks to improved consumer spending provided an opportune time for private equity companies to sell long-term investments to rival buyout firms with cash to spend. CBPE’s sale of [...]
The amazing comeback of Mexico’s most exclusive retreat January 18, 2016 Mexico has many faces. Anyone with half an eye on international news this week will have noticed the furore surrounding the recapture of mega drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, and the murder of Temixco Mayor Gisela Mota after only one day in office. However, none of this seems to have put people off going [...]
Equistone takes £100m prime cut of Argentinian steak house Gaucho January 17, 2016 The Gaucho chain of Argentinian steak restaurants has been snapped up by a hungry buyout firm in a deal thought to be worth around £100m. Equistone, the private equity firm previously owned by Barclays, is said to have beaten other interested suitors to buy a majority stake in the chain. Gaucho’s founder, the Dutch entrepreneur Zeev [...]
Lunch with Candy Crush creator Riccardo Zacconi fetches £18,000 at charity auction January 13, 2016 There really is no such thing as a free lunch. An Italian gentleman bid the princely sum of £18,000 yesterday at a charity auction, winning him a power lunch with technology guru Riccardo Zacconi, whose firm King Digital is behind the irritatingly addictive mobile game Candy Crush. Not only that, but the winning bidder will [...]
Moet Hennessy chief executive Christophe Navarre invests in Vivino wine networking app January 13, 2016 Christophe Navarre, the president Moet Hennessy – the wines and spirits division of luxury giant LVMH – is one of several investors involved in wine app Vivino's $25m (£17.3m) series B fundraising. Vivino's site and app is a networking site for wine lovers, and the most downloaded mobile wine app, allowing users to recommend and rate wines, and identify wines from restaurants around the world. [...]
Deutsche Bank buys new FCA headquarters at Stratford’s International Quarter for £370m January 12, 2016 Deutsche Bank has snapped up an office development in Stratford that will house the new Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) headquarters, in a £370m deal. The German bank's asset management arm has agreed to forward fund the 515,000 sq ft building, which forms part of a major £2.3bn development next to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park known as the International Quarter. The [...]