Paul Kinsey, the former chief executive of First Leisure, has formed a new company to acquire 14 venues run by the collapsed late-night bar operator Springwood, owner of the McClusky's, Zanzibar and Cobarna bar chains.
Kinsey has teamed up with three ex-Springwood executives, Chris Clegg , who was the company's managing director, Mike Marley, who was company secretary, and Steven Mugglestone to form a new operation, Nexum Leisure.
Nexum has bought the 14 mixed freehold and leasehold sites from Springwood's administrative receivers, Ernst & Young, for an unspecified sum in cash.
The company, which is backed by Lloyds Bank in a debt-and-equity deal, is operating out of Springwood's old offices in Anstey, Leicestershire. The venues it has acquired exclude those sold by First Leisure to Springwood in August 2002, with the exception of a club in Darlington. Nexum will manage eight other former Springwood venues on behalf of Ernst & Young, of which it would like to acquire "one or two", Kinsey said. Springwood has five other sites, all currently closed, which are being sold as properties rather than venues
Kinsey, who left the nightclub operator First Leisure in January last year "by mutual consent, said of the venues Nexum has acquired: "These are high-profile, reputable venues with an established customer-base, and we look forward to enabling them to realise their full potential.
"We are confident that, by employing clearly defined, creative operating policies, we can establish them as market-leaders in their respective towns and cities. It is the relative strength of the core Zanzibar and Mode brands and their popularity in the market-place that will provide us with the competitive edge.
Last November Kinsey was appointed to the board of Gatecrasher, the Sheffield-based nightclub operator and music promoter, as non-executive chairman, and he said today he would be carrying on with that post: "Nexum and Gatecrasher are complementary, non-competing businesses.
Springwood went into administrative receivership in February after the failure of negotiations with its bankers to secure long-term funding, and with a number of its principal creditors to reschedule or reduce some of its liabilities.
In October last year its executive chairman, Adam Page, was forced out by the company's bankers and replaced by a corporate turnaround specialist. The company saw its shares plunge 33% as a result, to 13p. They subsequently dropped another two thirds to 3.5p before being suspended.
