Castle Square Corporate Finance has advised the management team of Leeds-headquartered rock and indie cocktail bar chain, MOJO, on the Management Buy-Out of 50% of the equity of the group not currently owned, bringing the whole of the shareholding under management control.
The company operates bars in Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool and plans to extend its network to a minimum of 10 bars over the next eight years. It is targeting its first bar in London in the next 12 months and plans to open a further two venues in the capital before branching out to other major UK cities.
Castle Square Corporate Finance has advised the management team of Leeds-headquartered rock and indie cocktail bar chain, MOJO, on the management buy-out of 50% of the equity of the group not currently owned, bringing the whole of the shareholding under management control.
The company operates bars in Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool and plans to extend its network to a minimum of 10 bars over the next eight years. It is targeting its first bar in London in the next 12 months and plans to open a further two venues in the capital before branching out to other major UK cities.
The Castle Square team advised on all aspects of the transaction including securing a finance package from HSBC to complete the transaction.
The South Yorkshire Commercial Centre of HSBC led for the bank in a deal managed by Senior Commercial Manager Chris Alsop. The management team were advised by Lawyers from the Sheffield and Birmingham offices of Freeths, led by Adrian Hackett and Ateeq Ahmed.
MOJO, which is the trading name of parent company Voodoo Doll, was founded in 2002 and generates annual sales of £4 million, which it wants to grow to £16 million through its expansion programme.
Managing Director Martin Greenhow explained the company’s expansion plans, “Having organically grown to cover three major northern cities in England, London is the natural progression for the business and we are confident that there is a strong market waiting for MOJO in London. If you look at our customer database, a third of the existing customers have London addresses, driven by a natural migration of people between the south east and the north (and vice versa).
“People from Liverpool, Leeds and Manchester head to London for work after university, and of course the North also benefits from many students from the South coming here to study, with the majority returning South having completed their degree, taking with them an affinity for MOJO.
“We are looking at three bars in London and will then look to extend the brand into other UK cities. HSBC’s finance has given us the platform on which to build this growth, helping us to lay the foundations for successful expansion.”
Kevan Shaw, Director at Castle Square said, “We are delighted to have assisted the management team in achieving their objectives in connection with the shareholding. The HSBC funding also allows them to move forward with their expansion strategy with a supportive funding partner. Completion of the deal also shows, once again, that banks are lending into Management Buy-Out transactions and that the finance is out there for such transaction”.
