Regent Inns sold in management buyout

Regent Inns chief executive John Leslie has led a management buyout of 60 of the group's venues from administrators in a pre-pack deal.

Leslie headed a team comprising of a number of senior Regent Inns executives to acquire the units, which currently trade as Walkabout bars, Old Orleans restaurants and Jongleurs comedy venues.

A new company called iNTERTAIN Limited had been created to run the businesses, which the former Regent boss said would focus on providing entertainment - both live music and televised sport - throughout its estate.

Leslie, who declined to reveal what the new company paid for the 60 sites it has taken on, told The Publican​: "We've tried to find every solution possible for this business, including a sale process which was handled by [accountants] BDO. We had offers but they were either insufficient or not funded well enough.

"The process we have undertaken is in the best interests of both the creditors and the staff," Leslie added.

Leslie would not comment on who funded the deal, but The Publican​ understands no private equity was involved, suggesting that Regent's banks - RBS, Bank of Scotland, WestLB and Barclays - were onboard.

As well as individuals from Regent including chief operating officer Simon Kaye iNTERTAIN has appointed former Pitcher & Piano managing director Mike Dowell to help run the business.

The pre-pack deal saves 1,800 jobs, with around 160 staff losing their jobs as a result of nine sites, including the Walkabout bar on London's Shaftesbury Avenue, being closed.

Twelve sites, including nine Old Orleans restaurants, have been sold to Punch Taverns.

The management buyout concluded what Leslie described as the "toughest period of my working life". The future of Regent had been in doubt for more than a year, with efforts to sell units and the company itself proving fruitless. It recently de-listed its shares in order to save administrative costs, believed to be around £200,000.

But with the pre-pack out of the way, Leslie said the company could trade much better.

"This has always been a cash generative company. Losing the tail will help significantly raise EBITDA, while we've got much lower debt now," he said.

With events such as next year's World Cup football tournament on the way, Leslie said he believed the units would fare well, given the effort that was being put into the 60-strong estate.