I am currently Chair of Portobello (London & SE freehold pubs and brewery, backed by Zetland Capital), Curious Brewery (includes Wild Beer Co, backed by Risk Capital Partners) and The Pub People Company (Midlands freehold pubs, backed by Downing LLP). I am also Non Exec with Darwin & Wallace bar group.
Before my portfolio career, I was CEO of The Liberation Group, a leading UK Brewery which consists of over 120 pubs, bars and inns. I led the original MBI through a carve out of the Channel Island business with the support of LGV Capital in 2008 to create Liberation Group, and successfully scaled the business organically and through multiple acquisitions including Butcombe in the West Country. We completed a successful SBO in 2016 with Caledonia Investments, delivering a 2.8x return for LGV Capital, and I exited the business in 2018.
I’ll be drawing on these experiences to support PepTalks members in relation to:
- Successful M&A
- Scaling organisations
- Effective preparation for a secondary buyout.