Nightcap raises £10m to fuel further growth
Part of the proceeds from the fundraising will ‘underpin the expansion and growth’ of ABG, which has nine bars in London and Birmingham
Nightcap, a hospitality group formed by investors Sarah Willingham and Michael Toxvaerd to back the UK premium bar sector, announced it has raised £10m to further its investment strategy and roll-out its latest acquisition, Adventure Bar Group (ABG).
The £10m figure raised is “significantly higher” than originally planned owing to a strong demand for the shares from existing shareholders and several new institutions, with the raise many times oversubscribed.
Nightcap is raising the funds through two tranches, placing a total of nearly 43.5 million new ordinary shares, with Allenby Capital Limited acting as sole broker in connection with the placing.
Part of the proceeds from the fundraising will “underpin the expansion and growth” of ABG, which has nine bars in London and Birmingham, and which Nightcap agreed to acquire earlier this month.
Nightcap added that the successful conclusion of the £10m raise will furthermore strengthen its strategy to invest in the premium bar sector through acquisition.
The latest acquisition is Nightcap’s second deal after buying The London Cocktail Club (LCC), the 10-strong cocktail bar business, in January 2021. Like LCC, ABG recently expanded out of its London heartland, opening a large outdoor bar, food and entertainment venue, Luna Springs, in Birmingham. It will open a second venue in Birmingham city centre, Tonight Josephine, on 17 May.
Sarah Willingham, CEO of Nightcap, said: “We are delighted to have secured this additional funding. The strength of demand from shareholders to participate in this placing is hugely telling, and testament to, we believe, two things: first, the amazing opportunity we have with Nightcap to back brilliant entrepreneurs and businesses like Adventure Bar Group and London Cocktail Club as we emerge from the pandemic.
“Secondly, it is a great endorsement of the premium bar sector and the opportunity to deliver significant growth and value amid huge pent-up demand from consumers – at a time when the ability to acquire the right prime sites at attractive rates is unmatched by anything I have seen during my 25 years in hospitality.”
Willingham established Nightcap with Toxvaerd to help bar and late-night entrepreneurs and businesses recapitalise balance sheets, and to access growth funding as the UK hospitality and leisure sector emerges from the pandemic, and guests return to venues.
