The Restaurant Group has bought Blubeckers, CI Traders’ UK restaurant business, in a cash deal worth £27.05m.
The payment includes a £4.3m debt repayment and was paid for using The Restaurant Group’s existing banking facilities.
The deal swells The Restaurant Group’s portfolio to seven high street brands and takes them into the ‘third age’ market of 45 to 64 year-olds.
Blubeckers operates 17 restaurants in the Home Counties under two brands, Blubeckers, with 12 sites and Edwinns, with five. The sites have average sales of £1m per year.
Alan Jackson, the executive chairman of The Restaurant Group, said: "We have acquired a business with two well respected and established brands, a good portfolio of sites and an experienced management team.
"We intend to further develop the potential of the existing units and to add new ones."
The Restaurant Group plans to roll out both brands in rural, semi-rural and neighbourhood locations, doubling the business within two to three years.
CI Traders said: "The UK restaurants were more valuable to the acquirers than ourselves as they could integrate the Blubeckers business into their existing varied UK restaurant portfolio and expand it more rapidly on a national basis."
When reporting full-year results earlier this year, CI Traders said that it intended to focus on its burgeoning property business. The company said that it would use the proceeds of the sale to reduce bank borrowings.
Average spend is £15 a head at Blubeckers and £20 in Edwinns Both concepts are focused on a broad range of consumers including adults, families and mature consumers.
The restaurant formats are based on a brasserie style restaurant and accompanying bar area, with several of the restaurants featuring outside eating areas.
In the year ended 30 January Blubeckers reported turnover of £15.6m, profit before interest and tax of £1.7m, pre-tax profit of £1.4m and net assets of £14.5m. Before central overheads of £1.4m, the Ebitda was £3.7m.
The group said it expected Blubeckers to be earnings enhancing in the current financial year.
Last month The Restaurant Group reported like-for-like sales growth of 3% for the 20 weeks to 22 May.
The group said that it had opened four new Frankie & Benny’s restaurants and one new Chiquito’s so far this year, where initial indications of trading were described as ‘very encouraging’.
The company expects to open more than 25 new units this year.
