London premium bar company acquires Latin American competitor for £4.9m

London based drinks-led developer Nightcap announced it has acquired the entire issued share capital of Barrio Familia Ltd and its subsidiaries.

As a result of the acquisition, the board of Nightcap expects that the group’s results for the 53 weeks ending 3 July 2022 will be significantly ahead of current market expectations.

Through the acquisition, Nightcap has become the operator of an additional five bars, which comprise: Four Latin American-inspired cocktail bars in areas of London which trade under the Barrio brand; and a 60s themed members’ cocktail bar which trades under the Disrepute brand in London’s Soho area.

The Board believes that the Barrio bar brand captures a growing demand for Latin-inspired, Margarita and Tequila focussed bars and has significant UK rollout potential, similar to Nightcap’s existing bar brands.

The consideration paid to the vendors is £4.9m and comprises: A net cash amount of £3.6m, and £1.3m which has been satisfied by the issue of 5,682,609 new ordinary shares of 1p each in the company at a price of 23 pence per share.

Sarah Willingham, chief executive officer of Nightcap, commented: “I am absolutely delighted that Nightcap has acquired Barrio Familia, which includes Barrio’s four Latin American-inspired cocktail bars and the ‘60s themed members’ cocktail bar, Disrepute.

“When Nightcap was founded, one of my goals was to acquire a bar group that has the potential to maximise on the winning combination of Margaritas and Tacos - a personal favourite of mine!

“Over the past year, Nightcap has closely observed the significant growth of the Tequila market with great interest, and we believe that this Acquisition has significant potential for UK-wide expansion.”