Private equity firm buys Jamies wine bar sites

Private Equity financier NBGI has backed former Chorion chairman Nick Tamblyn in a buyout of selected Jamies wine bar and Henry J Bean assets from the troubled Food & Drink Group.

Using the company name Mainpaint Ltd, NBGI has paid F&DG administrators BDO Stoy Hayward an undisclosed sum to acquire 17 licensed premises across London, plus a further 17 franchise sites in the UK and overseas.

Mainpaint chief executive Tamblyn hopes to turn the businesses around using the experience he amassed at Chorion where he developed the Tiger Tiger brand and other West End bars such as On Anon, Digress and The Langley.

He told The Publican​ that he has been looking for a private equity funded deal for a couple of years but that the F&DG businesses are the first opportunity he has come across that make real financial sense.

"We have bought some very successful businesses in this portfolio, including very good sites in the City Of London," said Tamblyn.

Among the more successful operations are six Jamies wine bars, including premises in Bishopsgate described by Tamblyn as "a great site", and three Henry J Beans sites. The other eight premises are individually branded. "Sometimes it doesn't make sense to have two Jamies sites in close proximity," explained Tamblyn, "but the remaining sites are also in the mid-to up-market wine bar format."

The deal also involves a number of Henry J Bean franchises. "The brand is strongest in Spanish speaking markets, so there are a number of franchises in Spain and Mexico," said Tamblyn. "That's a relatively small part of the business at the moment, so selling food and drink in the UK is going to be our focus."

Tamblyn claims he has no intention to re-brand any of the premises acquired by Mainpaint. "The next phase will be to maximise the potential of each site. That might take us around six months. After that we'll look at possible acquisitions and new sites."

Although 125 F&DG staff have been made redundant, the Mainpaint deal has saved more than 300 jobs. BDO Stoy Hayward has appointed leisure property specialists Shelley Sandzer to market the remaining 12 leasehold sites in London, Birmingham and Bristol.