Orchid on the Acquisition Trail

PRLog (Press Release) – Jun 16, 2009 – Orchid has today acquired 10 businesses from Bar Room Bar Ltd, in a move demonstrating the operator’s active strategy of acquiring distressed assets in the pub and restaurant sector.
The acquisition will be the first of many for Orchid and will enable the unbranded and branded Bar Room Bar sites to continue trading under their existing guise.
Main points of the acquisition:

•Orchid will continue running all 10 businesses as normal with its circa 200 existing staff

•The acquired businesses fit into Orchid’s existing segmentation structure with no additional resource required

•Orchid is not seeking any additional funding for the acquisition

•BRB businesses will immediately benefit from Orchid’s purchasing power and award winning training & development initiatives
Rufus Hall, Chief Executive of Orchid, said: “Acquiring these ten profitable unbranded and branded businesses is absolutely in line with our strategy to lead sector consolidation.  This is an exciting day for Orchid as this represents the first of many acquisitions to come, thus enabling us to continue to leverage our position as a leading player in the managed sector”.
Phil Kaziewicz, Managing Director of GI Partners (Orchid’s largest shareholder), said: “We fully supported Orchid’s restructuring, at the end of 2008, because we felt confident in the group’s ability to adapt and evolve the business in line with current economic conditions. We are pleased to already be seeing the well thought out strategy paying off; not only benefiting the Orchid Group but saving businesses and hundreds of jobs in the process.”
Birmingham-based Bar Room Bar collapsed in April after ongoing cash flow difficulties. It was set up in 2007 after buying 16 sites and the Bar Room Bar brand name from the Orchid Group for £20 million.

- Ends -
For further press information contact:

Katherine Sparkes or Philip Maclean - T: 0117 968 8090
Notes to editors:
Details of acquired pubs

Bar Room Bar - The Arc - London

The Cow - Cambridge

The Hill  - Bristol

The Junction   - London

Bar Room Bar Wanstead   -London

Bar Room Bar Leeds  - Leeds

Bar Room Bar - The Mailbox  - Birmingham

The Midland  -  Liverpool

The Paraffin Lamp -  Livingston

Bar Room Bar - Hole in the Wall  - Stratford Upon Avon