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Troubled West End bars chain Novus, which owns Tiger Tiger, Sugar Reef and the Zoo Bar, today looked set for a refinancing that would make Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland big shareholders.
The deal will leave Cognetas, the private equity firm which previously owned the business, diluted down to minority owner status.
Barclays Ventures is to provide a further £20 million of expansion capital.
Cognetas bought the business in 2005 for about £115 million then invested a further £20 million in 2007. However, the deal reportedly loaded the bars group with too much debt, leading it to a potential breach of its banking covenants.
Refinancing negotiations are thought to have been going on since the start of the year.
There was talk in the spring that Barclays and RBS could put the group into administration if it did not reduce its cost base.
Restructuring experts Grant Thornton were working with Novus's board on negotiations with landlords including Land Securities and Prudential.
In April, Novus wrote to landlords asking for rent cuts, saying: "Our senior lenders [Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland] are making any ongoing support conditional on the achievement of cost efficiencies."
London bar operators have been suffering from the economic crisis as drinkers have been going out less although they are said to have performed better than in other parts of the country.
