Yo! Sushi to be sold for circa £81m, say reports
Mayfair Equity Partners has bought Asian restaurant group Yo! Sushi from private equity firm Quilvest for circa £81m after a deal was reportedly finalised over the weekend.
The sale has been reported today in the wake of rumours that the takeover was to take place as early as August this year.
Yo! Sushi chief executive officer Vanessa Hall, who has operated the company with restaurateur Robin Rowland as executive chairman since May 2014, is also said to be stepping down, with Rowland moving back into the CEO position in her place.
Other bidders rumoured to be in the picture were Inflexion Private Equity, Morgan Stanley Private Equity, 3i and Mistral Equity Partners, with the deal originally mooted as being worth over £100m.
The business was founded in 1997 by Simon Woodroffe and now runs to more than 70 sites including three in the US. The group was sold in 2008 to private equity firm Quilvest for over £51m.
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