A North Somerset procurement firm has been acquired for an undisclosed sum by a business that belongs to the FTSE-100 catering group Compass.
Weston-super-Mare-based Regency Purchasing Group, which sources products, services and supplies for more than 3,500 leisure and hospitality businesses across the UK, has been purchased by competitor Foodbuy Europe.
Law firm Osborne Clarke, which advised Birmingham-based Foodbuy on the deal, said the two firms would share “a partnership approach to operations” following the agreement.
According to filings on Companies House, Regency’s managing director Alex Demetriou ceased to be a person of significant control in the business from December December 8, 2022. Foodbuy’s managing director Karl James Atkins, alongside three other new directors, joined on December 12.
Regency has counted South West brewery and publican Butcombe Brewing and bowling chain Superbowl UK among the companies it works with, as well as hundreds of golf clubs, hotels, zoos, and family attractions.
Mr Demetriou previously told BusinessLive in 2021 the business, formed in 1988, had seen a sharp growth in its client base owing to a “double whammy” effect of Brexit and the coronavirus ‘pingdemic’ on businesses.
He attributed the rise to long-term recruitment issues within leisure and hospitality, exacerbated by EU national workers leaving the UK since the country’s exit from the bloc, and staff being forced to isolate after being ‘pinged’ by the Covid-19 track and trace app.
Osborne Clarke, which has an office in Bristol, said it had previously advised Compass on its acquisitions of food tech start-up Feedr, as well as its joint venture in Peppermint Events.
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