CBPE Capital (“CBPE”) has announced its investment in Côte Restaurants (“Côte”), the award winning restaurant group with 45 outlets. It is believed that Richard Caring is selling his 51% stake, and that Cote Restaurants was valued at around £100 million.
Côte was founded by a group of experienced restaurateurs, who opened the first restaurant in Wimbledon, South West London in 2007. Côte was established on the principle of serving simple, freshly prepared French food at value for money prices, an ethos which remains today. Since then Harald Samuelsson and Alex Scrimgeour, together with their management team, have established Côte as one of the fastest growing and most innovative brands in the UK restaurant market.
CBPE is backing the existing management team, led by Harald and Alex, to continue to grow the business while maintaining its commitment to offering high quality food at a reasonable price.
The Côte management team and founders will be re-investing in the business alongside CBPE. Nick Fiddler, one of Côte’s founders, will also be joining the Board as a Non-Executive Director.
The investment was co-led for CBPE by Ian Moore and Sean Dinnen. CBPE has a strong track record of investing in the leisure sector. Previous investments include Park Resorts, one of the UK’s leading caravan park operators, which CBPE exited in 2007 and which grew considerably under CBPE ownership. Other current investments in the leisure sector include The Original Bowling Company, the UK’s leading tenpin bowling business.
Alex Scrimgeour, Joint Managing Director of Côte, commented:
“We are really proud of what we have achieved at Côte since opening the first restaurant in 2007 and I believe that in CBPE we have found the right partner to help us grow the business further. Côte has been successful because we offer a great eating out experience; we source quality products and we are always striving to get dishes just right, while keeping prices reasonable for our customers. CBPE understand this commitment and we look forward to working with them as Côte continues to expand and evolve.”
Ian Moore, Partner at CBPE, said:
“We have known the Côte team for a number of years and we are delighted to be making this investment. Harald, Alex and the rest of the management team have an uncompromising dedication to quality and a proven track record of growing successful restaurant businesses. We are looking forward to working with them to facilitate Côte’s measured growth plans over the coming years.”
About CBPE Capital
- CBPE Capital is a leading private equity firm with eight funds raised over 28 years.
- It is currently investing its latest fund, which closed in February 2010 at £405m.
- Investments are typically made in companies seeking growth or development capital, with an enterprise value of up to £150m.
- For further information visit www.cbpel.com