News and Press
TLT advises on Balls Brothers sale

National law firm TLT has advised administrators Zolfo Cooper on the sale of 17 Balls Brothers Ltd and Lewis & Clarke Ltd bars and restaurants to the UK’s largest private, bar and club operator Novus Leisure.

The firm was appointed to provide legal advice by Nick Cropper, Peter Holder and Stuart Mackellar, partners at independent restructuring experts Zolfo Cooper, following their appointment as administrators in November 2010.

The move has seen Tiger Tiger operator, Novus Leisure, acquire the bars and restaurants which are based in the City of London and across the West End following a period of trading by the administrators. The companies went into administration following challenging trading conditions linked to the cuts across the City’s financial institutions.

The 10-strong TLT team advising the administrators was led by TLT's head of Corporate Restructuring and Insolvency, partner James Forsyth supported by associate Andrew Lockerbie who advised on the corporate aspects and partner Julian Mant who advised on the property aspects of the transaction.

TLT's James Forsyth says, "Balls Brothers has been a City institution for over 50 years and our work for the administrators gave TLT's strong Corporate Recovery and Insolvency team the opportunity to use its expertise and understanding of the leisure sector to assist the administrators with trading the business and ultimately secure its sale as a going concern."

Nick Cropper, Partner at Zolfo Cooper, said of the sale: “The joint Administrators are delighted with the sale of Balls Brothers Limited and Lewis & Clarke Limited, as it represents an excellent result for the companies’ creditors and preserves the employment of 300 employees in the City and West End of London."

TLT's corporate recovery and insolvency team has extensive experience of complex and innovative structures in relation to bank work-outs, turnarounds and insolvency procedures in the context of saving businesses and maximising recoveries. The team regularly acts for the UK's major insolvency practitioners and undertakes a wide range of work for major banks advising on security, facilities, recoveries and inter-creditor issues.

TLT has a strong focus on the leisure sector and acts for some of the sector's leading pub companies, clubs, restaurants, hotel chains and visitor attractions including Punch Taverns, one of the UK's leading pub companies, and Merlin Entertainments, the world's second largest entertainment group. TLT provides its leisure sector clients with specialist real estate, licensing, litigation, corporate, commercial, regulatory and employment advice.