McWin in talks for Gail’s bakery takeover

McWin Capital Partners, the investor behind Big Mamma Group, is in talks to buy the Gail’s bakery chain.

 

Bloomberg reported the company is seeking to pre-empt a sale process for Gail’s.

McWin already backs the parent company of Gail’s as well as German pizza and pasta chain L’Osteria and hospitality incubator White Rabbit Projects. It acquired the Sticks’n’Sushi restaurant chain earlier this year for an undisclosed sum.

 

It follows repots Gail’s has hired Goldman Sachs to run an auction of the chain next year.

 

Representatives for Gail’s and McWin did not respond to a request for comment.

 

Gail’s, which launched in London’s Hampstead in 2005, has rapidly expanded in recent years and now comprises around 130 locations.

 

Managing director Marta Pogroszewska said last year the chain’s research had shown there were 300-500 locations where it could successfully open across the UK.

 

However, the group faced backlash over an opening in the London suburb of Walthamstow earlier this year after residents objected to chains threatening the "uniqueness" of the high street.

 

Gail’s has part-owned by hospitality entrepreneur Luke Johnson, who sold his stake in contract caterer Genuine Dining in September, for 14 years.

 

Johnson said Gail’s had “almost certainly been the most successful business” he’d ever been involved with during a conference earlier this year.