Private investor syndicator Hotbed is raising a further £2.1 million in leisure business No Saints following a rights issue that raised £1.8 million from current shareholders.
Private investor syndicator Hotbed is raising a further £2.1 million in leisure business No Saints following a rights issue that raised £1.8 million from current shareholders.
No Saints has acquired four sites with established trading since Hotbed investor members provided the business with £3 million of funding in May last year alongside a substantial management investment.
The company was launched last year by Stephen Thomas, founder of nightclub operator Luminar, and is chaired by Fitness First founder Mike Balfour.
Russell Pope, chief investment officer at Hotbed, says, ‘Existing investors have been keen to take advantage of the rights issue, and we are pleased to be able to offer more investor members the opportunity to get involved in an attractive sector in which, traditionally, good concepts often get snapped up quickly by the major players.’
The company’s acquisitive growth has seen it deliver profitability earlier than expected, according to a statement.
Pope explains that No Saints buys venues ‘at particularly favourable rents because landlords have the confidence that they will be long-term, stable tenants’, adding that the business is ‘making good progress in its roll-out’.
Thomas says, ‘While other operators are tied up by existing leases and still repairing the financial damage caused by the recession, No Saints is able to move quickly to find the best venues for this audience at depressed prices and invest in getting the right mix of entertainment, food and drink to draw them in.’
No Saints has purchased Jam House, a live music venue developed with musician Jools Holland, and anticipates that the next site to open will be a Chicago Pizza Pie Factory in Bristol.
Hotbed is a specialist supplier of alternative asset investments, providing direct private equity and commercial property investments made available in £25,000 units.
