In January 2005, LGV acquired Tragus Holdings Limited, the owner of the Café Rouge and Bella Italia restaurant chains for £107m. At the time of acquisition, Tragus was one of the largest mid-market restaurant chain operators in the UK, with 157 sites across the country serving over 10 million meals every year. Its key brands were Café Rouge and Bella Italia along with several brasserie operations.
At the time of acquisition Graham Turner, previously the MD of the Unique Pub Co became CEO of Tragus. In May 2005, following strong recent performance, the Company undertook a refinancing with a new £138 million facility.
Over the period of LGV’s ownership, the Group had opened 13 new sites with a further 7 contracts exchanged, had established a Spanish brand; Ortega and were serving over 12 million meals every year.
In December 2006, LGV successfully sold the Group to the Blackstone Group for £267 million.
