Cayzer family has a gamble on Gala

ONE of Britain’s oldest aristocratic families has taken a gamble on Britain’s biggest bingo operator.

Caledonia Investments, an investment trust in which the Cayzer family own a 48.5pc stake, spent £241m buying Gala Bingo.

It was part of Gala Coral Group, owned by private equity firms Apollo Management and Cerberus Capital Management. Earlier this year the firms sold the Coral bookmaking side of the business to Ladbrokes.

Gala Bingo operates 130 clubs and has 1.1m active members. The acquisition does not include Gala Coral’s online bingo site called galabingo.com. The deal needs the green light from the Gambling Commission before the sale can go ahead. This process is expected to take up to two months.

Carl Leaver, chief executive of Gala Coral, said: ‘We are very pleased to have agreed the sale of Gala Retail. Gala Coral remains focused on growing and developing our bookmaking and online businesses.’

Duncan Johnson, a director at Caledonia who sat on the board of Gala until 2002, said the existing management team would remain at Gala. ‘We are delighted to be backing Simon Wykes [chief executive] and his team in the next chapter of its history.’

Caledonia’s history is inextricably linked to the Cayzer family whose forebear Sir Charles Cayzer founded the shipping business Clan Line Steamers – the world’s largest cargo carrying line – in 1878. His sons continued to grow the business after his death in 1916 and, in the 1950s, purchased the Union-Castle line to create the British & Commonwealth Shipping Company.

The decline in the shipping industry forced the next generation of Cayzers to look elsewhere to ensure the survival of the business. They realised its future lay in financial services and investments.

The business has an 8.1pc stake in Irn Bru maker AG Barr, 4.7pc of helicopter operator Bristow, and 2.4pc in merchant bank Close Brothers. It also owns caravan site operator Park Holidays and Choice Care Group, which runs homes for the elderly.