Pret A Manger owner sells Hoxton Hotel for £70m May 29, 2012 The Hoxton, the trendy east London hotel founded six years ago by the Pret a Manger co-founder Sinclair Beecham, has been sold in a deal worth around £70m. The hotel’s private equity backer Bridge Ventures confirmed the sale yesterday to boutique investment firm Ennismore Capital, which aims to make the Hoxton concept a chain in [...]
Osborne foiled over pasty tax May 28, 2012 GEORGE Osborne, the chancellor, was forced into another embarrassing U-turn last night as he watered down his controversial “pasty tax”. Osborne had hoped to iron out quirks in the tax system when he set out plans in his March Budget to extend VAT at 20 per cent to hot takeaway food – but failed to [...]
Bridgepoint spells out a £49m deal for dictation firm BigHand May 21, 2012 BRIDGEPOINT, the private equity house behind a series of high street names, has bought a dictation technology firm from Lloyds Development Capital in a £49m deal. Its Bridgepoint Development Capital arm has taken a majority stake in BigHand, which works with more than 150,000 professionals such as lawyers, doctors and accountants. As part of the [...]
Pret A Manger sets its sights on expansion April 4, 2012 PRET A MANGER is to create 550 jobs in Britain and step up its expansion plans abroad after it unveiled soaring revenue and earnings growth in 2011. Chief executive Clive Schlee said the sandwich chain plans to “invest heavily in future growth” with at least 44 shop openings this year, of which 24 will open [...]
Whitbread appoints Rogers to lead Costa expansion April 3, 2012 Whitbread said that Chris Rogers, currently group finance director, would take over as chief executive of its rapidly expanding coffee shop chain Costa Coffee in August, with a remit to drive international growth. Whitbread, which also owns budget hotel chain Premier Inn, said Rogers will head up Costa’s global business to drive forward a five [...]
Greggs in the City up in arms over pasty tax April 1, 2012 THE Capitalist attends the swankiest openings on the calendar, from galleries in Mayfair to fashion shows in Milan. But we’ve never seen anything like the hysteria on display at the launch of Greggs’ 200th London store on Cheapside in the heart of the City last Friday. As staff proffered free pastries and passers-by queued to [...]
Budget fuels crisis on the high street March 22, 2012 SOME of the UK’s most senior retailers yesterday slammed the chancellor’s supposedly pro-business Budget, saying his failure to address a planned hike in business rates will deal a blow to Britain’s ailing high streets. George Osborne has said he will cut corporation tax faster than planned to 24 per cent this year. But retailers were left [...]
MEDIA EXEC BRINGS £1M PERUVIAN BID TO SOHO February 20, 2012 MARTIN MORALES was headhunted by Apple as one of the four founders of iTunes Europe and sat on the board of The Walt Disney Company. But Ceviche, the Peruvian restaurant behind a plain black door at 17 Frith Street in Soho, is his life’s work. Since leaving Disney in July 2011, the half-Peruvian Morales has [...]
Bridgepoint on brink of Quilter deal January 23, 2012 PRIVATE equity house Bridgepoint is set to buy Quilter, an arm of Morgan Stanley’s wealth management unit which the US bank is offloading for a second time. The buyout group, whose investments range from Pret a Manger to a series of continental financial and business services groups, is expected to pay around £180m for the [...]
EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED AS MARK HIX MOVES INTO BELGRAVES HOTEL December 12, 2011 THE RUMOURS have been swirling around the leisure industry for months, and Thompson Hotels yesterday confirmed that chef Mark Hix will run the restaurant and bar at its new hotel launch Belgraves, due to open in January. The 80-seat Hix Belgravia, the chef’s fourth restaurant, will offer a menu inspired by his travels around the [...]