The New Inventive Bar Company, owner of the Revolution vodka bar chain, is close to appointing advisors to work on a stock market listing for next year.
According to Sky News, Alchemy Partners, which acquired the group in 2005, is close to appointing Numis Securities to work on the listing, which could value the business in the region of £100m.
The company, formerly Inventive Leisure, was previously bought to the market in the first half of 2012, but the process was pulled later that year after bids failed to reach a similar target price.
Inventive previously traded on London’s junior AIM market before being taken private by Alchemy at the end of 2005.
The group currently operates 71 sites in total; 53 sites under its core brand, plus a small number of rum bars under its Revolucion de Cuba brand.
In March, it reorganised its estate into three operating companies, one of which, Nightjar Bars Limited, is to eventually operate its 11 venues under a “local non-branded format” called Rift & Co.
Mark McQuater, former chief executive of Barracuda, was named as the group’s new chief executive last year.
In December last year, the company, which management said had performed “in line with expectations”, undertook a refinancing of its borrowing facilities, including securing a £15.5m bank loan.
Earlier this year, it said it planned to return to the acquisition trail after successfully refinancing its bank facilities.
At the time, McQuater said it’s “perfectly possible” for Inventive to grow from 70 to 100 sites.
