Gaucho

Gaucho is a restaurant group with a passion for all things Argentinian, where it sources the best quality grass fed beef and an extensive range of unique wines.

The Gaucho brand of restaurants are targeted at the premium and special occasion market segment and offer high quality dining, with an emphasis on authentic Argentinian cuisine, particularly steaks, and an extensive fine wine list. With 12 restaurants across London, there are four more in Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester and Edinburgh.

The CAU brand was first launched in 2010 as an aspirational casual dining chain with a “Buenos Aires” theme.

Equistone previously backed a management buyout of Gaucho in 2005. Equistone supported plans to increase revenue and rollout new sites. In 2006, the business was sold to Phoenix, resulting in a return of 2.5x the original investment.

THE EXIT

Equistone acted as a supportive majority shareholder to Gaucho Group after investing in the business in 2016, working closely with the company to address the challenges presented by the adverse trading conditions that negatively impacted the UK casual dining sector as a whole. Despite Equistone presenting Gaucho’s lenders with a solvent solution for the company on a number of separate occasions, Gaucho was put into administration in July 2018.