Hill Capital, the investment vehicle led by former Clapham House chief executive Paul Campbell, has teamed up with LDC, the mid-market private equity arm of Lloyds bank, to set up a new £20m fund that will look to invest in fledgling eating-out businesses.
Campbell, who through Hill Capital has already invested in Hawksmoor, Tortilla and Vinoteca, told M&C Report that the new fund expects to invest between £1m to £4m in each deal and is looking to back groups with a small number of outlets that it believes has substantial growth potential.
The former Pizza Express finance director, who earlier this year was named investor of the year at the Retailers’ Retailer Awards, said that the new fund would look at businesses across the sector from cafe/bakery to fine dining.
He said that the new venture was already monitoring several businesses and a couple of deals were already in early negotiations.
Campbell told M&C Report: “I am looking to search out and invest in exceptional young businesses with talented, ambitious owners. We are going to invest in some great concepts over the next couple of years.”
LDC (Lloyds Development Capital) previously backed the Ego Restaurants chain, which was acquired by Luke Johnson in September 2010.
It was recently in the running to acquire Novus Leisure and is also thought to be interested in the D&D London and Red Hot World Buffet businesses.
M&C Report understands that John Harper, formerly of Wagamama backer Duke Street Capital, is set to join LDC next month.
