D&D London - one of the biggest restaurant groups in the capital - looks to be exploring a sale after appointing financial advisors Interpath Advisory to launch a sale process. This comes after private talks with another investment firm - Montecito Equity Partners - broke down last year.
It is rumoured that the group - which owns 45 bars, restaurants and even a hotel - would sell for an estimated (and rather eye-watering) £100m.
The restaurant group was established in 2006 when co-founders Des Gunewardena and David Loewi bought a majority stake in Sir Terence Conran’s Conran Restaurants and rebranded the group as D&D London. Since then the duo has expanded the stable considerably, opening restaurants like 14 Hills, Sartoria and Fiume in London, as well as Klosterhaus in Bristol, Angelica and Crafthouse and East 59th in Leeds, and even going international with Alcazar in Paris and Gustavino’s in New York.
Conran was a monumental presence in the restaurant and design world. He built a mighty restaurant empire over the course of half a century, opening Orrery on the King's Road as early as 1953 (he opened a new Orrery in Marylebone years later), then going on to make his mark with iconic restaurants like Bibendum, Quaglino's, the Blueprint Cafe and the now-closed Neal Street Restaurant, which was a famous celebrity haunt in the 1970s and 1980s.
The business changed hands again in 2013 when LDC - the private equity arm of Lloyds Banking Group - took over the group. LDC assessed the possibility of floating D&D London on the stock market in 2015, but that flotation never materialised.
The potential sale comes at a difficult period for hospitality, which is struggling under the weight of staff shortages and high inflation rates. It also follows the sale of Corbin and King - another long standing London restaurant group - to Thai hospitality group Minor International.
The sale of D&D London would represent a seismic shift in the London restaurant landscape. Check out our Top 100 restaurants in London right here.