Neil Perry sells Rockpool empire to UPG

Neil Perry has sold his Rockpool restaurant empire to private equity-backed Urban Purveyor Group, which is heading towards a $1 billion IPO.

The deal creates a business with 47 venues, including the Burger Project and the Rockpool Bar & Grill restaurants in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.

The new company will be known as Rockpool Dining Group. UPG says the 15 dining brands, with some 3000 employees in four states, comes with a turnover of more than $350 million.

UPG’s Tom Pash predicted the new entity would grow from 47 venues to 80 within the next year.

The combined group now includes Rockpool Bar & Grill, Saké Restaurant & Bar, Spice Temple, Fratelli Fresh, The Cut Steakhouse, Rosetta, The Bavarian, Munich Brauhaus and Burger Project, which launched its seventh outlet last week.

Perry retains his flagship restaurant, 11 Bridge St (recently rebranded from Rockpool) along withand David Jones Qantas consultancy.

The price of the deal has not been disclosed, but industry sources speculate it may be worth up to $60 million. 

Perry’s backer was the US-based David Doyle, who helped finance Rockpool Bar & Grill when it first launched a decade ago.

The funding of the deal is through Quadrant Private Equity.