The billionaire restauranteur dubbed the ‘King of Mayfair’ Richard Caring is on the brink of selling The Ivy restaurants in a £1billion deal, according to reports.
London-based investment firm Si Advisors is nearing a deal to buy the Ivy Collection, which runs dozens of sites across the UK, Sky News has reported.
The Ivy has been at the centre of London’s social scene for the past 100 years and has seen hundreds of stars and business people pass through its doors.
Mr Caring owns a controlling stake in the company, which runs the original Ivy in West London, its spin-off chain restaurants and Ivy Asia sites, alongside Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani, the former prime minister of Qatar.
The pair put the business up for auction at the start of the year, with the Sunday Times first reporting they had set a £1 billion valuation.
The Ivy restaurants are on the brink of being sold in a £1billion deal, according to reports
The billionaire restauranteur dubbed the ‘King of Mayfair’ Richard Caring (pictured in 2018) is looking to sell the business to London-based investment firm Si Advisors
The Ivy has been at the centre of London’s social scene for the past 100 years and has seen hundreds of stars and business people pass through its doors. Mr Caring (pictured with Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber) started his career in clothing, before buying the Caprice Holdings group for £31.5million in 2005 to start his restaurant business
Both are expected to sell their stakes as part of the deal.
However, the deal will not include Caprice Holdings, Mr Caring’s group of other restaurants including London’s Scott’s, Sexy Fish, J Sheekey or private members clubs Annabel’s and Mark’s Club in Mayfair.
Mr Caring and the Ivy Collection declined to comment on the reports.
The identity of buyers Si Advisors will come as a surprise given the list of prominent sovereign and private investors who considered bidding for The Ivy Collection.
The Ivy was founded in Covent Garden in central London in 1917 by Abel Giandolini and Mario Gallati, before the pair then opened popular restaurant Le Caprice.
In 2005, Mr Caring bought the Caprice Holdings group, before spinning off the Ivy Collection arm to rapidly expand the restaurant brand.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe dined out with key advisors Sir Dave Brailsford and Jean-Claude Blanc at The Ivy in Manchester in May
Richard Caring, Goldie Hawn, Lady Shakira Caine and Sir Michael Caine in London in 2016
Victoria and David Beckham coming out of The Ivy in March 2001
Joan Collins and Mr Caring in 2011
A menu at The Ivy from 2017 featured classic British favourites such as Shepherds Pie at £19.50, calves liver, £23.50 and even fish and chips with mushy peas, £19
He has since embarked on a wildly successful expansion of The Ivy brand, taking it to dozens of locations across London and the south of England, with a few locations also in the north, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland.
Most recent Companies House accounts showed the company delivered earnings of £54.8 million and turnover of almost £303 million for the year to January 2023.
Mr Caring has also been a shareholder in the company which owns the Soho House chain of private members’ clubs. The businessman is widely regarded as the most successful investor in upmarket hospitality assets of his generation.
The Ivy has continued to go from strength to strength, with the top end of the London hospitality industry faring resiliently despite Britain’s generally sluggish economy.
The venue has remained a hotspot for stars, with a pregnant Margot Robbie seen in July making sure she gave her fans a really good time when she treated them to a round of drinks at The Ivy Chelsea Garden.
The actress, 34, who is pregnant with her first child, was joined by her husband Tom Ackerley at the restaurant as they treated diners to their Papa Salt Coastal Gin.
Earlier in the summer Sir Michael Caine, 91, was seen pushing a walker as he joined by wife Shakira, 77, for a night out at The Ivy.
The venue has remained a hotspot for stars, with a pregnant Margot Robbie seen in July making sure she gave her fans a really good time when she treated them to a round of drinks at The Ivy Chelsea Garden
Earlier in the summer Sir Michael Caine, 91, was seen pushing a walker as he joined by wife Shakira, 77, for a night out at The Ivy
A flamboyant figure, Mr Caring paid £150,000 in 2019 to dine with Boris Johnson at his own venue, Mark’s Club. He made the donation to the Conservatives during their fundraiser at the Hurlingham Club in Fulham, south-west London, where he sat next to then-prime minister Theresa May.
Mr Caring started his career in clothing, before buying the Caprice Holdings group for £31.5million in 2005 to start his restaurant business.
In 2020, Mr Caring pledged to feed thousands of NHS workers and the critically vulnerable by opening up the kitchens of his restaurants.
Mr Caring, together with his wife Patricia and The Caring Foundation, said they wanted to help feed those in need during this ‘tunnel of darkness’.
Some 5,000 meals a week were made in Annabel’s four kitchens and distributed to staff at London hospitals including the Chelsea & Westminster, West Middlesex University Hospital, St Thomas’ and St Mary’s.
He also partnered with The Felix Project – London’s biggest food redistribution charity – to help feed 20,000 isolated elderly people, families with no income and NHS workers.
STAR STORIES FROM THE IVY by former maître d’ Fernando Peire
Sadie Frost (pictured left with Jude Law) shared a memorable dinner at The Ivy
DAWN FRENCH
One lunchtime I was with Jennifer Saunders and the playwright Mary Agnes Donoghue when Brad Pitt walked in. He was having lunch with the director Terry Gilliam, who I know. I faked a trip to the loo, and wrote a note to Terry which read: ‘Make Brad kiss me as if he adores me, or I’ll kill your family. Fact. Love, Dawn.’
An hour later I found Brad Pitt’s lips on mine. He said something like, ‘Hey Dawn, great to see you, God you look gorgeous.’ Then he waved and was gone. I turned back to Jennifer and Mary Agnes to find their jaws on the floor. As were the jaws of most of the diners.
SADIE FROST
I had worked with Lauren Bacall so Jude [Law, her former husband, pictured right with Sadie] and I invited her to dinner at The Ivy. Smoking had by this time been banned but it didn’t bother Ms Bacall who lit up a Marlboro Light without missing a beat. Soon a nervous waiter was politely asking Ms Bacall to put out her cigarette. ‘F*** off,’ she replied. He did.
And who would argue with her? So she sat smoking and telling us stories about Humphrey Bogart while Jude and I sat hooked on her every word. But as she started talking about her second husband Jason Robards, she took a huge drag on her cigarette and looked at us. ‘Jason?’ she said in her husky voice. ‘Now he was a real man.’
DAVID WALLIAMS
Early on in my career, I spotted my childhood hero Sir Roger Moore at a nearby table, and the late Sir David Frost, who I knew, introduced us. Sir Roger invited me to join him and his wife for a drink and it turned out he was a fan of Little Britain. As he left he approached my table and quoted one of my catchphrases back to me. ‘I’m a lady!’ said Sir Roger. It was all the more hilarious as he delivered it in his deadpan style.
JANE, LADY GIBSON
When I was working in TV I took Samantha Fox, the former Page 3 model, to The Ivy for dinner. As we sat down I noticed a very elegant woman at a nearby table scrabbling to get out of her seat for a gawp. It was Princess Margaret. There she was in a twinset and pearls, peering around a pillar to look at Samantha Fox. The Ivy is a true meritocracy.
