The Restaurant Group is in talks to acquire a majority stake in Living Ventures, in a two-way deal that would see the operator of Living Room buy the Est Est Est brand, M&C has learnt.
A transaction would see TRG buy the 30% stake in Living Ventures owned by Bowmark Capital (formerly known as Sagitta Private Equity), a private equity company, plus at least 20% of the 70% that is owned by founders Tim Bacon and Jeremy Roberts, and some other members of the senior management team.
Living Ventures would in turn buy Est Est Est, the 19-strong underperforming pizza and pasta chain that has average sales of £17,400 per week from TRG.
It is not clear if an agreement, which could be concluded by the end of the month, will contain an option for TRG to acquire the bar and restaurant group outright, but the deal is said to value Living Ventures at about £30m and Est Est Est at about £15m.
Rumours of a tie-up between the two companies first emerged several weeks ago. Both TRG and Living Ventures declined to comment but speculation suggests the two businesses will be kept separate, operationally.
Living Ventures had previously held merger talks with publicly-quoted Bank Restaurant Group. The news also ends speculation that it was lining up a merger with Urbium, the quoted bar group that operates Tiger Tiger.
Bacon and Roberts founded the business in 1999 in Manchester. It now has 11 Living Rooms, two Prohibition cocktail bars and two The Bar & Grill restaurant outlets. A number of Living Rooms are planned for this year including two in the Capital – at Leadenhall Street in the City of London and on Heddon Street in the West End.
Bacon, who once starred in Australian soap Sons & Daughters and started in the bar sector as a barman at TGI Friday’s, has founded and sold a number of chains including Life Cafe and Via Vita.
