Côte set for £250m sale
Private equity firm BC Partners is reported to be set to buy restaurant chain Côte for £250m.
The company is in advanced and exclusive talks to buy the chain from CBPE Capital, according to Sky News.
If the transaction goes ahead it means that the 65-strong restaurant group will have grown in value by £150m since CBPE's deal two years ago to acquire Richard Caring's majority stake.
The business, which was founded in 2007 by Caring, Andy Bassadone, Chris Benians and Nick Fiddler and is run by joint managing directors Alex Scrimgeour and Harald Samuelsson, recorded a 26.6% rise in profit to £16.2m last year.
It is reported to be expected to generate sales of close to £110m and pre-tax profits of more than £20m to the end of July.
BC Partners is said to believe that it can triple the number of Côte restaurants in the UK, according to Sky.
Côte would be the latest in a number of chains to be sold or to have launched sale processes in the past year, including Ask Italian, La Tasca, Prezzo, TGI Friday's, and Yo! Sushi.
Last week saw the announcement that Casual Dining Group would buy Las Iguanas for £85m.
Côte in potential £200m sale >>
Casual Dining Group hungry for Las Iganuas acquisition >>
