Novus Leisure, the privately-owned bar and club group led by Steve Richards, has acquired the Balls Brothers and Lewis & Clarke businesses out of administration, for a fee that could eventually exceed £7.8m.
Novus has acquired 17 of the 19 Balls Brothers bars, of which 14 are in the City of London with the remaining three bars in Victoria, Brook Street in the West End, and Hay’s Galleria.
Six of the sites being acquired are former Lewis & Clarke bars, whereas the remaining 11 trade under the Balls Brothers brand.
Novus said it will pay £4.65m for the portfolio on completion, with a future £3.2m deferred and payable on successful resolution of landlord and property matters. All the acquired properties are leasehold.
The group said that it would look to “contemporise the Balls Brothers proposition by broadening its appeal to make it more relevant to a wider customer base of City professionals”. Sites will be refurbished, the menu and drinks offer will be modernised and trading occasions extended.
Novus currently operates 38 venues, primarily located in London’s West End and the City, as well as the Tiger Tiger brand in several regional cities nationwide.
Richards said: “Balls Brothers provides an excellent fit with Novus’s focus on its heartland of the City and West End. This acquisition is a great strategic opportunity for us and allows Novus to continue its London expansion.
“We are keen to continue extending our footprint and capacity in the buoyant London market These sites play to our strengths and we see significant potential to leverage our sales and marketing expertise to Balls Brothers customers whilst contemporising the offer of this heritage brand.”
The company said it expects to add significant footfall and volume to the business by bringing its central sales and booking system to bear: as well as a sales team that sell space at each venue – particularly to corporate customers – the group also has over one million customers on its database and a consumer-facing website called latenightlondon.co.uk.
Novus entered into exclusive talks to acquire Balls Brothers in January. The acquisition is in line with the company’s ambition to expand in its London heartland.
The sale was handled by Zolfo Cooper, the corporate advisory firm that was appointed as administrator to Balls Brothers before Christmas. National law firm TLT advised Zolfo Cooper.
The move to call in administrators was made by Balls Brothers’s lead bank, Barclays, after mounting losses at the firm.
Separately, Novus has reopened Sway and Foundation in London after extensive capital expenditure and also opened a new venue called Piccadilly Institute on Piccadilly Circus. Its Mansion House venue also opened in Glasgow during the last month.
