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NB Dicks Tea Bar operations remain unaffected
Any Dicks Tea Bar staff returning to jobs or with interviews lined
up over the next month can rest easy - all the bars will be operating
this winter, with no jobs lost. All the bars will be open for season
workers and holiday makers alike to continue their apres-partying.
--------------------
The Independent on Sunday reported yesterday that
the recent sale and purchase of Brown Rock's bars, which includes
the Dicks Tea Bar chain, by Hugh Osmond, the City entrepreneur behind
Punch Taverns and Pizza Express, is to be investigated.
Company bought and sold within a few weeks
The probe will centre on a company called Town and Field, where
Mr Osmond is a director and shareholder.
It bought the Dick's Tea Bar chain in May from Brown Rock. Mr Osmond
was a shareholder in Brown Rock and had been a director of the company
until days before the deal. A few weeks later, Town and Field sold
the businesses on to the Mark Warner travel group.
Brown Rock was placed in receivership in July on the application
of John Gunn, one of several high-profile investors on Brown Rock's
shareholder register. Mr Gunn said he was concerned about how the
company had been run and felt obliged to have a receiver appointed.
Receiver to investigate transaction
The receiver, Mike Bowell of MBI Equity, a firm based in Guildford,
Surrey, said he had concerns about the deal to sell Dick's Tea Bar
to Mr Osmond. "I can confirm that that transaction will definitely
be investigated because of the timing and because it was a transaction
with a related party," Mr Bowell said.
One of the aspects he will be looking at is whether Mr Osmond was
able to secure a bargain because of his close relationship with
the company.
"He paid a full price for the business"
Mr Osmond denies that he made any money out of Dick's Tea Bar. "This
was a private investment in a company Hugh liked," said a spokesman
for Sun Capital Partners, Mr Osmond's private equity business. "He
acquired the bars in an attempt to keep the business afloat but
in the end it was not enough. He paid a full price for the business
as anyone who investigates will find out."
The IOS reports that the price paid for Dick's Tea Bar was 'so small
Mr Osmond could not remember the figure'. The exact price has not
been released but is understood to be less than £200,000,
a fraction of Brown Rock's debts which stood at over £2.4m
when it went into receivership.
Meriski/Ski Company sales will not be investigated
The assets of two of Brown Rock's businesses, Meriski and The Ski
Company, were also sold before the group went into receivership.
However, they were not sold to related parties and Mr Bowell is
unlikely to investigate them.
[Source: Independent on Sunday]
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