Tycoon Caring close to clinching £1bn sale of Ivy Collection
The billionaire businessman Richard Caring is close to clinching a sale of his collection of Ivy restaurants, paving the way for a new owner of some of London’s biggest celebrity haunts.
Sky News has learnt that Mr Caring, who began exploring an auction late last year, is on the brink of signing a deal with Si Advisers, a little-known London-based firm.
Sources said a deal could be formally struck within weeks and was expected to value at around the £1bn valuation mooted for the business over the last eight months.
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The deal will represent a coup for Mr Caring, dubbed ‘the king of Mayfair’ and owner of some of the world’s most expensive and exclusive restaurants and private members’ clubs.
It is expected to see him offloading close to all of his stake in The Ivy Collection, which now spans dozens of restaurants in affluent locations across Britain.
Other shareholders, including a Qatari fund, are also expected to sell.
The deal will not include Mr Caring’s other restaurants, which include London’s Scott’s, Sexy Fish and J Sheekey, or clubs such as Annabel’s and Mark’s Club in Mayfair.
The identity of the buyer will come as a surprise given the list of prominent sovereign and private investors who considered bidding for The Ivy Collection.
Richard Caring (centre) is shown at a Christmas event in London. File pic: PA
Si Advisers lists its two directors as Hamza Ben Abderahmen and Ameel Somani, who is described as “a private equity investor and keen supporter of the arts”.
Mr Somani serves on a number of boards and previously worked for Helios Investment Partners, the Africa-focused private equity firm.
The Ivy was founded at a site near Leicester Square in 1917 by two friends, Abel Giandolini and Mario Gallati, with the latter then going on to open Le Caprice, which was for decades one of the capital’s most popular restaurants among A-list celebrities before it was closed in 2020.
Mr Caring took over Caprice Holdings in 2005 in a deal which included many of London’s most prominent restaurants.
He has since embarked on a wildly successful expansion of The Ivy brand, taking it to dozens of locations across London and the south of England.
The businessman has also opened branches of The Ivy in Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester and York, as well as cities in Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
He has also focused on expanding The Ivy Asia, a newer concept which numbers fewer than ten restaurants but which he aims to expand.
Mr Caring’s investments have paid off, with record sales and profits in the latest year for which results have been published.
Accounts filed at Companies House for Troia (UK) Restaurants for the period ending 1 January 2023, which comprises The Ivy Collection, showed turnover of almost £303m, and adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of £54.8m.
Updated accounts are expected to be filed later this year.
In 2019, he sold a 25% stake in Caprice Holdings to Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, the former prime minister of Qatar, in a deal reportedly worth £200m.
Mr Caring has also been a shareholder in the company which owns the Soho House chain of private members’ clubs, and is now widely regarded as the most successful investor in upmarket hospitality assets of his generation.
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His initial wealth, however, was made in the clothing trade, and saw him become a long-term business associate of Sir Philip Green, the former Arcadia owner.
Selling a big stake in The Ivy Collection would crystallise a huge windfall for Mr Caring, with the top end of the London hospitality industry faring resiliently despite Britain’s stuttering economy.
A spokesperson for Mr Caring and HSBC both declined to comment, while SI Advisers could not be reached for comment.
Business
UK interest rates an outlier after decision to hold but Bank of England forecasts inflation rise to 2.5%
There has been no change to the UK interest rate despite the US and European central banks all moving to cut in the last week.
The Bank of England has kept the interest rate at 5% as official figures this week showed some measures of price rises grew.
It follows the first cut in more than four years.
The rate set by the Bank impacts how much lenders charge to borrow money, so it affects how expensive mortgages or credit card bills are.
But there was no consensus on the decision. One of the nine rate decision-makers voted for a cut.
There were signals of the Bank’s direction of travel from governor Andrew Bailey.
Where to next?
If the economy continues to progress in line with its expectations “we should be able to reduce rates gradually over time”, he said.
But, he said, “we need to be careful not to cut too fast or by too much”.
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Market expectations are currently for a cut at the next meeting in November followed by a further one in December.
The latest forecasts from the Bank are for inflation to rise again, reaching 2.5% by the end of the year.
How did we get here?
Interest rates were brought to a high last seen during the 2008 global financial crash in an effort to bring down spiralling inflation.
More expensive borrowing can choke economic demand and slow price rises.
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Bank of England holds interest rates
The Bank is tasked with bringing inflation down to 2%. It currently stands at 2.2%.
The US central bank, the Federal Reserve, brought interest rates down by 0.5 percentage points to 4.75% to 5% on Wednesday and the European Central Bank (ECB) reduced borrowing costs last week to 3.5%.
Unlike the UK, the US interest rate is a range to guide lenders rather than a single percentage.
Reaction
Sterling strengthened, following the news and against a weakened dollar a pound bought $1.33, the highest amount in more than two years.
Business
Why Bank of England is in no rush to lower interest rates – even though some think decision to wait is dangerous
Slowly does it.
That’s the overarching message to take away from the Bank of England‘s latest monetary policy decision. Unlike the Federal Reserve, the US central bank, which decided yesterday to cut interest rates by half a percentage point – more than many had expected – the Bank wanted to signal today that it’s in no rush.
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Alongside the decision to leave borrowing costs on hold at 5%, the Bank’s governor also signalled that he and the rest of the Monetary Policy Committee were in no rush to cut them again. Provided there aren’t any inflation surprises, he said, “we should be able to reduce rates gradually over time”. He added: “But it’s vital that inflation stays low, so we need to be careful not to cut too fast or by too much.”
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The Bank of England has held the base interest rate at 5%
Even so, the Bank is expected to carry on cutting rates in the coming months. Indeed, economists think the Bank will cut rates in November by at least a quarter percentage point, followed by more cuts next year, taking borrowing costs down towards 3% by next summer.
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That’s largely because inflation is now considerably lower than in recent years, and because there is evidence that high interest rates are starting to weigh down economic activity. The longer those rates stay high, the bigger the depressive impact they have on the UK.
But that raises another issue. For some economists, the Bank of England’s gradualist approach is dangerous. They worry that higher rates, which deter companies and individuals from spending and investing, are causing unnecessary damage.
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That helps explain why one of the MPC members, Swati Dhingra, voted to reduce rates at this meeting.
But the rest of the committee was of one mind – no point in rushing.
Whether they are right is something we’ll find out in the coming months.
There has been no change to the UK interest rate despite the US and European central banks all moving to cut in the last week.
The Bank of England has kept the interest rate at 5% as official figures this week showed some measures of price rises grew.
It follows the first cut in more than four years.
The rate set by the Bank impacts how much lenders charge to borrow money, so it affects how expensive mortgages or credit card bills are.
But there was no consensus on the decision. One of the nine rate decision-makers voted for a cut.
Where to next?
There were signals of the Bank’s direction of travel from governor Andrew Bailey.
If the economy continues to progress in line with its expectations “we should be able to reduce rates gradually over time”, he said.
But, he said, “we need to be careful not to cut too fast or by too much”.
Market expectations are currently for a cut at the next meeting in November followed by a further one in December.
How did we get here?
Interest rates were brought to a high last seen during the 2008 global financial crash in an effort to bring down spiralling inflation.
More expensive borrowing can choke economic demand and slow price rises.
The Banks is tasked with bringing inflation down to 2%. It currently stands at 2.2%.
The US central bank, the Federal Reserve, brought interest rates down by 0.5 percentage points to 4.75% to 5% on Wednesday and the European Central Bank (ECB) reduced borrowing costs last week to 3.5%.
Unlike the UK, the US interest rate is a range to guide lenders rather than a single percentage.
Reaction
Sterling strengthened, following the news and against a weakened dollar a pound bought $1.33, the highest amount in more than two years.
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