Jeremy King loses battle to regain control of Corbin & King's restaurants

Jeremy King has lost his battle to take control of restaurant group Corbin & King, with shareholder Minor International seizing the business in an auction held this morning (1 April).

In a newsletter King said his bid to take control of the company, supported by Knighthead of New York, had been unsuccessful.

He has said he no longer holds any equity in the company and assumes Minor will proceed to take control of the group’s restaurants.

King founded the company, which operates nine standalone restaurants including the Wolseley, the Delaunay, Brasserie Zedel and Colbert, with business partner Chris Corbin.

In January Minor International, the major shareholder of Corbin & King with a 74% interest, placed the company in administration and called in debts following a dispute with King over its direction.

At the time King described the move as "power play" and reiterated his plan to buy it out of administration. He would go on to gain a High Court ruling allowing the business to accept a rescue package and repay a £34m debt to Minor International.

Geoff Rowley and Ian Corfield, partners at specialist business advisory firm FRP, were appointed joint administrators to Corbin & King Limited, the holding company for the Corbin & King Group.

In a statement issued this morning FRP said: “The joint administrators of Corbin & King Ltd, have this morning completed a sale of the shares held by the company in Corbin & King Holdings Ltd and its subsidiaries to a subsidiary of Minor International.

“The sale also includes intellectual property held by the company and is the culmination of a sales process conducted over recent weeks. The joint administrators would like to express their thanks to all the interested parties who took part in the process.”

Minor has said it will now look to grow the company's portfolio both in the UK and internationally.

Dillip Rajakarier, group CEO of Minor International, said: “Given the global appeal of Corbin & King Limited’s iconic portfolio of brands, it is no surprise that competition for the business was so strong. We are delighted that our offer was accepted, and we can now look forward to building on the existing strong foundations to drive growth in the UK and internationally.

"We have exciting growth plans for the business and are delighted to embark on this journey with our outstanding employees, the company’s key stakeholders, and, of course, our valued customers.”

Yesterday Insurer Axa announced that it will not appeal the judgment handed down last month, in which it was told it should pay-out to cover Covid-related losses at Corbin & King.