Yahoo Finance Byron Burgers could shut more restaurants after owner sells majority stake in rescue deal
Under-pressure burger chain Byron faces more site closures after its owners struck a rescue deal with two new investors.
Hutton Collins, which bought the business in 2013 in a deal worth £100m, has sold a majority stake to private equity firm Three Hills Capital Partners with FPP Asset Management also becoming a new investor.
This leaves Hutton Collins, which also owns Wagamama, as a minority owner but details about the size of its remaining stake and the value of what it sold are unlikely to be disclosed, a spokesman said.
Byron had closed four underperforming sites earlier this year but it is thought the new investors could cut deeper as the chain struggles to compete against the burgeoning amount of rivals in the casual dining space.
Byron, which employs 1,800 people, operates predominantly in London and the south-east, where it has 44 sites. Elsewhere in England, it mainly operates in large shopping centres, and it has four sites in Scotland, bringing its total to 70.
The deal, first reported by Sky News, is understood to involve a company voluntary agreement that would pave the way for further closures.
Byron opened its doors for the first time in 2007. The business was founded by Tom Byng, who left earlier this year. At the same time Hutton Collins announced Andrew Manders as chief executive and former Morrisons chief Dalton Philips as chairman.
However Mr Philips has been running the chain since May when Mr Manders stepped down for personal reasons. It is uncertain how long the ex-supermarket boss will keep this role given that in October he took the job of chief executive of DAA, which owns Dublin Airport.
It is also understood Byron has not breached its banking covenants, contrary to some reports.
