Sale of D&D London thought to be imminent

18 April 2013 by
Sale of D&D London thought to be imminent

D&D London is understood to be on the verge of agreeing a sale of its 30-strong restaurant portfolio, with LDC, the private equity arm of Lloyds Bank, believed to be buying the majority stake in the company.

D&D London anticipates receiving around £70m through the sale.

The management, which expects to be retained by the new owner to oversee expansion, hopes to significantly grow its portfolio both in the UK and overseas, where it currently operates restaurants in Copenhagen, Paris, New York and Tokyo.

In an interview with Caterer and Hotelkeeper last year, chairman and chief executive Gunewardena said he wants to grow D&D London into "much more international" company.

"At the moment we are still a London business with some ventures overseas but in 10 years time that part of the company will be much bigger," he said.

"We will be much stronger in the Far East where there are lots of opportunities for us - we'll be in Singapore, China, Malaysia, India - and we'll have more sites in New York. We will be a much bigger business and hopefully have a few more hotels too both in London and internationally."

Gunewardena and Loewi relaunched Conran Restaurants as D&D London in spring 2007 following a management buyout of 49% from Conran Holdings.

D&D runs London restaurants including Plateau, Skylon, Orrery, Bluebird and Launceston Place, which last year gained a Michelin star. It also owns the South Place hotel in the City, which opened last autumn along with the restaurants at the Old Bengal Warehouses.

Last month, D&D opened its first venture outside of the capital, Crafthouse and Angelica at the Trinity Leeds shopping centre.

http://www.catererandhotelkeeper.co.uk/Articles/2012/05/23/343749/dd-london-puts-restaurants-up-for-sale-to-fund-future-expansion.htm" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Caterer and Hotelkeeper interview - Des Gunewardena and David Loewi of D&D London >> ](http://www.catererandhotelkeeper.co.uk/articles/13/9/2012/345345/caterer-and-hotelkeeper-interview-des-gunewardena-and-david-loewi-of-d-d-london.htm)

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D&D London puts restaurants up for sale to fund future expansion >>

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