the business
Barracuda Group owns and operates more than 200 managed pubs across England, Scotland and Wales.
The company was founded, as a start-up, in July 2000 by a team of investing directors led by Mark McQuater. Its aim has been to acquire and develop a top quality estate in niche markets within secondary towns, suburban high streets and community locations. It was backed by both management investment and PPM Ventures until 2005 when Charterhouse Capital Partners LLP, the specialist private equity group, acquired Barracuda Group for £262 million. In 2009 Babson Capital Europe led a refinancing deal that injected new cash into the business and converted an element of debt into equity.
Barracuda Group is a national operator of pubs and bars and, following a series of significant acquisitions and new developments, has established itself as one of the ten largest managed pub companies in the UK.
At its inception in July 2000 the Barracuda Group acquired 35 managed pubs in a deal worth £50m through a management buy-in from Enterprise Inns. This was followed later the same year by a public to private transaction of £36m for 61 pubs in the South East from AIM-listed Ambishus Pub Company.
In September 2001 Barracuda then acquired, by private treaty, 50 further sites from Wolverhampton and Dudley for £37.3m. These included 19 student-focused Varsity pubs. In October 2002, Barracuda acquired seven of the largest bars owned by the Old Monk Pub Company for £8.2m.
Barracuda has converted many of these sites into the aspirational Smith & Jones brand and in addition has continued to buy and convert individual sites across the UK. It now operates five key retail brands: Smith & Jones, Varsity, Barracuda Bar, Juniper and Cape .
