Beechbrook Capital has completed its UK SME Credit Fund’s fourth investment, a unitranche facility for Hotcha Group, a branded Chinese food takeaway and delivery chain in the UK.
Hotcha was founded in 2011 by James Liang, its chief executive and majority shareholder, and currently has 10 outlets in the west of England.
Beechbrook’s investment will enable Hotcha to continue to roll out the brand, as well as helping fund the necessary expansion in the group’s central cost base. With its central production facility and call centre, Hotcha has a highly scalable business.
Jon Herbert, managing director of the UK SME Credit Fund, says: “The opportunity to invest in Hotcha is a great example of the demand for flexible growth capital such as ours from UK SMEs. We are highly impressed by what James has achieved to date with the business, and we are delighted to be able to support him and Hotcha in its continuing expansion.”
Liang adds: “We have been exploring various means of financing the next stage of Hotcha’s growth with advisers, private equity and debt providers. Beechbrook’s unitranche proposal was the perfect fit given our current stage of growth. We have a proven business model and scalable platform within a fragmented market. This investment will enable us to continue our strong growth trajectory which will see a further 10 stores opened by end of March 2017 as we seek to be established as the UK’s first nationwide Chinese takeaway brand.”
Hotcha was advised by Attract Capital (corporate finance) and TLT (legal). Beechbrook received legal advice from Gateley.
