Neil Bennett and Alex Cadwallader of Leonard Curtis, who were appointed joint administrators to the Thai restaurant group earlier this month, confirmed the deal.
It is understood that all seven sites in Busaba’s estate, which includes six locations in London and a single regional outpost within the Lakeside Shopping Centre in Essex, were included in the sale.
The joint administrators said that following a ‘extremely challenging trading period’ the group was at risk of closure if a sale via administration could not be secured.
Seaco Investments is a newly incorporated company controlled by Ronald Seacombe, a finance professional.
Bennett said: “Busaba has experienced tough trading conditions over the past few years, in line with the hospitality industry in general, including the negative consequences of the cost-of-living crisis, inflation and a substantial increase in utilities costs.
“The pre-pack sale has allowed us to transfer the business smoothly and has saved a long-standing London Thai restaurant along with hundreds of jobs.”
Once the darling of the Thai restaurant scene, Busaba has faced numerous challenges over the past several years.
The group, which was launched by Wagamama founder Alan Yau in 1999 and at its peak operated 16 restaurants across the UK, completed a Company Voluntary Arrangement CVA in 2020 that left it with 12 sites, all based in London.
This followed a tough few years pre-pandemic that saw Busaba’s profits fall and the group’s regional estate, which once included sites in Manchester, Liverpool and St Albans, decimated.
Recent years has seen Busaba attempt new concepts and ideas including an izakaya-inspired bar called Ajia, which opened alongside a new restaurant in Oxford in 2022.
Both sites subsequently closed in 2023.
In May last year, Busaba CEO Winston Matthews told MCA, Restaurant’s sister site, that the group was to trial a new wet-led concept targeted at a younger audience in London’s Westfield Stratford over an 18-month period.
The plan was to see the group’s existing restaurant within Westfield Stratford overhauled, with the group set to establish a new site under its core concept in another area within the shopping centre later in the year.
According to Busaba’s website, however, the group only currently has a single site at Westfield Stratford, which appears to operate under the core concept with a drinks menu that mirrors that served at other sites.
More recently, Busaba closed its London restaurants in Bloomsbury and Kingston.
Companies House shows that the filing of the group’s accounts for the year ended 14 September 2024 are overdue.
In its most recent published accounts for the year to 17 September 2023, Busaba reduced its pre-tax losses from £3.1m to £1.8m.
However, turnover fell slightly over the period from £21.2m to £21.1m and EBITDA fell to a loss of £636,000 from a profit of £172,000 the year before.