The owner of the Po Na Na and Fez Club late-night concepts has gone into receivership, with a new company formed by the management to buy the 18 trading units..
Barvest is being put into receivership in a restructuring exercise. The new company, Barclub Trading, will buy 18 bars and clubs for up to £8.25m, with the cash used to pay back secured bank debt.
The buy-out is backed by private equity company Avanti Capital, which will own 60 per cent of Barclub Trading. Avanti backed Barvest's buy-out of around 25 outlets in 2003, after the original Po Na Na company itself went into receivership.
The late-night drinking niche occupied by venues such as Po Na Na has been seen as vulnerable to the extended trading hours now enjoyed by many town centre pubs.
Earlier this year, Avanti confirmed it had held abortive talks with a number of potential buyers for Barvest. At the time, it said "Barvest continues to trade in a challenging environment with continued uncertainty surrounding the implementation of the new licensing regime and the introduction of a smoking ban".