Lion Capital agrees to sell noodle chain wagamama

25th March 2011, 10:19am

Lion Capital, majority owner of noodle chain wagamama, has agreed to sell the business to Duke Street for a reported £215 million.

Since its establishment in 1992, wagamama has grown to 70 restaurants in the UK, three restaurants in the US and a franchise operation with 36 restaurants in 16 countries across Europe, the Middle East and Australia.

It is anticipated that the deal will close in the next 30 days and that the new owners will start to accelerate store openings in the UK.

Commenting on the sale, Lyndon Lea, Partner of Lion Capital, said: "When we acquired wagamama in 2005, we believed there was significant potential for expansion of its unique and highly-popular format in both its core markets and new geographies.

"Under our ownership, wagamama more than doubled the number of restaurants in the UK, successfully entered the US with the opening of three sites in Boston and added nine new franchise partnerships and 25 new restaurants around the world. We wish both the management team and Duke Street continued success with the business."

Steve Hill, chief executive of wagamama, added: "We have enjoyed working with Lion over the past six years. Thanks to the continued dedication of the wagamama teams throughout the world, we have achieved some great results over this period and further expanded the wagamama brand both in the UK and abroad. We are all very excited about the future and look forward to working with Duke Street, which will see wagamama through its next stage of growth."

London-based Lion has investments in Weetabix, Findus Group and Kettle Chips owner Kettle Foods.

Duke Street owns discount chain The Original Factory Shop and used to own stakes in Focus DIY and Esporta gyms.

Related Articles:

• 28 Oct 2010 - Living Ventures and Wagamama among the best for customer service
• 02 Aug 2010 - Reports suggest Wagamama restaurant chain is up for sale
• 27 Jul 2010 - Going East
• 22 Feb 2010 - wagamama unveils UK’s first food-ordering app for iPhone
• 02 Oct 2009 - wagamama seeks young design talent to create new look uniform
• 01 Apr 2009 - wagamama launches online takeout concept

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Tom Clements

25 March 2011 at 10:48am

Wagamama is like McDonalds nowadays; it just isn't the same as it was back when there were just a few London outlets. I still like going there but it's too commercial nowadays and the food isn't as tasty as I remember it being back in the early to mid-90s.

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