SFI's cut-price deal for Parisa cafés

PUBS group SFI has snapped up the Parisa café bars chain for half the expected price. The £15m deal highlights the problems faced by venture capitalists in making exits from their investments. But it also piles even more price pressure on Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries' Pitcher & Piano disposal.

Talk originally was of a £30m management buyout from Parisa's venture capitalist owners by founder Nader Haghighi. It failed to materialise.

CVC Capital Partners and Bridgepoint Capital are thought to have lowered the price to £24m in the summer. Eventually, they settled at today's figure, made up of £8m up front and the remainder in deferred payments. SFI will transform the chain into Slug & Lettuces at a cost of £50,000 to £100,000 a time.

Analysts said the price paid for the 28 Parisa sites would mean W&DB's Pitcher & Piano could be worth as little as £40m - way below the £70m-plus originally hoped for. SFI was in talks to buy the Pitcher & Piano chain but declined to pay more than £55m.