Novus enters JV with Mahiki entrepreneurs
Novus Leisure, the privately-owned bar operator, is to team up with the entrepreneurs behind Mahiki, the high-profile Mayfair nightclub, M&C Report understands.
The group, which is backed by Barclays Ventures, is to enter a joint venture with Piers Adam and Nick House that will herald the launch of a sister venue to Mahiki in the City of London.
The project, which if successful could form the basis of a wider partnership, will see Novus's 500-capacity Albi converted to a new club called Kanaloa.
Novus, which operates about 40 sites including the Tiger Tiger chain, is to invest £450,000 in the venue, which is located near the Goldman Sachs building on London's Fleet Street.
Like Mahiki, the name Kanaloa is Polynesian, linked to the word for "god of the ocean".
Steve Richards, chief executive of Novus, said that if the project was successful the partners would look to open more venues — either by converting existing Novus outlets or acquiring new locations.
He told M&C Report that Novus was committed to "constantly trying to enhance the customer proposition through innovation, partly by working in partnership with successful entrepreneurs like the teams behind Mahiki and Lucky Voice."
Mahiki has become a high-profile London nightspot, known for attracting celebrities as well as younger members of the royal family, such as Prince Harry and Prince William.
Owners Adam and House operate a number of other bars including Tini and Whisky Mist.
The joint venture site, which will open in October, is part of a wider programme of capital investments within the Novus business that will see about £7m invested in projects at 15 Novus venues by March 2010.
The programme will see Sugar Reef, just off London's Shaftesbury Avenue, rebranded as Grace following a £700,000 conversion plus the Lucky Voice format rolled out to more of its Tiger Tiger venues.
Novus recently completed a refinancing exercise that saw Barclays Ventures and Royal Bank of Scotland emerge as majority shareholders via a debt-for-equity swap. Cognetas, the private equity group that bought the business in 2005, retained a minority stake.
