Nightclub group asks for monthly £1m bailout

BRITAIN’S biggest nightclub group is asking the Government for a £1million-a-month bailout as it heads for a sale to private equity vultures.

Deltic Group – which runs 52 ‘superclubs’ around the UK including PRYZM and ATIK, all closed due to Covid-19 restrictions – will tomorrow start assessing bids from an initial 20 private equity firms and ten industry rivals after being put up for sale in October.

Chief executive Peter Marks said he needs a ‘firm offer’ either to buy the company outright or invest alongside existing shareholders by the end of the month as he will run out of cash in mid-December.

If no deal is reached, Deltic will be put into administration or a CVA insolvency process by consultancy firm BDO which is leading the sale.

Marks – who is a shareholder alongside other management and four property investors – said the firm was worth £80 million preCovid but investors’ bids are now likely to be far lower to reflect it burning through £700,000 a month to cover fixed costs while its clubs are shut. It has also accrued an outstanding rent bill of £8million.

Marks and rivals, including Fabric founder Cameron Leslie and Ministry of Sound chairman Lohan Presencer, have asked Business Minister Paul Scully for support.

Marks said his plea for a grant of around £1million per month is a third of the £3million Deltic contributed to the Treasury in taxes while it was trading successfully.

He said: ‘How can the Government tell a good business to close for 237 days and counting and not support them? It is a joke.’