Loungers, the Bristol-based café-bar operator, has agreed a £42.5m funding package from Santander Corporate & Commercial Banking in support of their Initial Public Offering (IPO).
The bank’s Bristol-based Origination & Client Coverage and Structured Finance teams, alongside Bank of Ireland, provided the group with a £32.5m term loan and a £10m revolving credit facility.
Loungers was founded as a single site in Bristol in 2002, and is the only growing all-day café-bar operator of scale in the UK, with a strong reputation for value for money. Loungers operates 146 café-bars across England and Wales under the Lounge and Cosy Club brands. In FY18, Loungers achieved revenue of £121.1m with an adjusted EBITDA of £16.6m.
Loungers became a Santander client in 2011 when the business managed just 17 sites, supporting them with a £2.3m loan to fund their rollout strategy. Since then the business has gone through two buyouts – with Piper Private Equity in 2012 and Lion Capital in 2016. The IPO and new facilities provide a strong foundation for further growth and expansion.
Gregor Grant, group chief financial officer said, “Santander has been a long-term partner of Loungers and have built a deep understanding of our business over this time. Their ongoing support has helped us grow our business from 17 sites to 146 sites, and to the fulfilment of a long-standing ambition of founders and management to list the Company on the public markets. We look forward to continuing our strong relationship with them.”
Julian Smith, director, Santander structured finance corporates said, “Loungers has demonstrated a consistent track record of success and growth since we began working with them eight years ago. We are delighted to be able to support Loungers with its IPO as the company enters an exciting new stage of its development.”
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