Paramount Restaurants in administration

25-Nov-2011 - Last updated on 25-Nov-2011 at 11:13 GMT

Paramount Restaurants owns the Brasserie Gerard, Chez Gerard and Livebaits brands

Paramount Restaurants, the operator of the Brasserie Gerard and Bertorelli brands, has been placed into administration, BigHospitality understands.

Sources speaking to BigHospitality’s sister publication, M&C report, said the 25-strong group was placed into administration on Wednesday night, around the same time that the company exchanged on the sale of its eight Chez Gerard sites chain to Brasserie Blanc.

Deloitte, which was hired by the company in August to advise it on its future options, is believed to have been appointed as administrators.
The sale of the Chez Gerard sites leaves Paramount with 18 Brasserie Gerards, four Livebaits and three Bertorellis.

Deals are progressing on a number of the sites, which will continue to trade up to and over Christmas.

Administration follows two previous restructures

Earlier this year, Paramount carried out its second restructuring in two years, after coming to a new agreement with its banking group, Barclays, HSBC and the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).

The restructure, which included the formation of a new holding company - Chez Gerard Restaurants Limited - came as the group reported a pre-tax loss of £29.24m for the 79 weeks to 2 January 2011, compared to a loss of £9.1m in the 53 weeks to 28 June 2009.

In 2009, Paramount - then led by chief executive Mark Phillips - underwent its first restructure, which saw it emerge under the ownership of a consortium of banks comprising Barclays, HSBC, RBS and at the time Sankaty. The process saw the management team retain a 15% to 20% stake in the business.

In July, chairman William Rollason stepped down as the chairman of the group to be replaced by current non-executive director Steve Smith, a turnaround specialist.

Mark Wingett is associate editor of BigHospitality’s sister publication, M&C Report.