Exhibitions caterer gets set for buyout or sell-off
Beeton Rumford, in-house caterer at London's Earls Court and Olympia exhibition centres, is likely to be sold in the next few weeks.
"We are looking at a five-year management buyout or a trade sale to a well-known operator," said Andrew Morris, chief executive of the Earls Court and Olympia Group.
Granada, which said in February it wanted to buy Beeton Rumford, is one of the companies in talks with Morris.
The successful bidder will provide the food at a variety of functions held at the centres, from executive dinners to cocktail parties. This makes up one-third of the catering operation.
The other two-thirds comprises 24 restaurants, sandwich bars and coffee shops inside the exhibition halls. Morris is in negotiations with a number of high-street names about taking these over. He expects six companies to run four branches each.
He said: "We are dealing with all the usual suspects, including Whitbread, Prêt à Manger, Starbucks and Pitcher & Piano."
