LGV Capital has successfully completed the management buy-out of a portfolio of businesses from the Channel Islands’ hospitality industry.
The Liberation Group is the new Channel Islands parent company of Victor Hugo Ltd in Jersey, Bucktrout & Co Ltd in Guernsey, The Jersey Brewery and 65 pubs and bars
across the Channel Islands (42 in Jersey, 21 in Guernsey and two in Alderney). The previous owner, Sandpiper, took a strategic decision to sell non-core assets, and The
Liberation Group has been founded to buy the portfolio.
LGV has backed a new Chief Executive, Mark Crowther, who will be supported by existing Hospitality Division directors, Declan Hearne, Finance Director; Kenrick Brooks, Operations Director Pubs; Dave Robilliard, MD of Bucktrout & Co Ltd; Martin Flageul, MD of Victor Hugo Ltd; and Ed Daubeney, Non-Executive Director. They are supported by Graham Turner, who has been appointed Non-Executive Chairman of The Liberation Group. Mr Turner is also CEO of Tragus Group, which owns Café Rouge and Bella Italia, among other businesses.
LGV is a well established provider of private equity in the UK market and part of the Legal & General Group. LGV has a 20 year history of successfully backing management teams in consumer, leisure, services and healthcare sectors.
The Liberation Group CEO Mark Crowther said: “The creation of The Liberation Group
will enable this part of the hospitality sector to move forward as a unified group under the leadership of an experienced team of directors who have a proven industry track record both in and outside the islands.
“We have come into this to invest, with the primary aim of growing the business in the
mid- to long-term. We expect some of the managed pubs to move to tenancies, with some of our existing tenancies moving to longer agreements. Our objective is to build stability, confidence and growth.
“As a management team we are excited by the possibilities that lie ahead and our staff can look forward to being part of a reinvigorated and focussed group of companies, actively pursuing a policy of growth across the islands.”
He added: “The deal was largely worked out around the time of Liberation Day (2008), which had an impact on some of the deadlines of the transaction. It became difficult to even discuss the deal without mentioning Liberation Day, so it seemed natural to name the group after the Channel Islands’ most important celebration. We believe the name also reflects our values of independence, individuality and optimism, which are at the heart of the Channel Island character.
“The buy-out has regrouped the drinks and hospitality elements into a single, specialised organisation, and we are pleased to be putting them back together, so that they are ‘joined at the hip’ because that is how they should be.”
