Funding to drive growth plans at pub company

Boutique investment and advisory firm Excellion Capital has arranged a six-year £110m whole loan for Red Oak Taverns, a pub company which operates 208 primarily leased and tenanted pubs across the UK.The debt facility refinances Red Oak’s existing debt and provides fresh capital to drive its future growth plans, with £50m to serve as an acquisition facility to drive the purchase of new assets and investment, including capital expenditure into the existing estate.Founded in 2011 by executive chairman Aaron Brown and chief executive Mark Grunnell, Red Oak has grown considerably during the past decade, successfully expanding its estate from its initial portfolio of 32 pubs.The new credit line enables management to continue to expand and to drive performance across its portfolio at a time when pubs have faced a challenging climate.Ashley Marks, managing director of Excellion Capital, said: “It was a pleasure working with Red Oak, who really impressed us both with the quality of their management team and their operations, especially given the challenges posed by the pandemic.”Red Oak has proved to be an extremely strong operator in a challenging industry, and we’re glad to assist them in a transaction which will help turbocharge their next stage of growth.”Mark Grunnell, co-founder and chief executive of Red Oak added: “We are pleased to have secured this facility and it has been a pleasure to work with Excellion. Our new financing provides us with the capital to continue to expand our portfolio and helps us along the next stage of our journey.”