London-based pizza delivery business, KMP Taste Limited, one of the UK’s largest Pizza Hut Delivery franchises, has been sold to Zaf Holdings Limited in a multi-million pound deal advised by Smith Cooper Corporate Finance.

The sellers of KMP Taste were three brothers from the London-based Patel family, private shareholders with a variety of business interests. Zaf Holdings Limited, is a newco set up by Arif Jivraj, a private investor with wide ranging expertise in franchised food retail. Commenting on the deal, John Farnsworth, Smith Cooper Corporate Finance Partner said “this transaction, involving nearly 30 stores and over 500 employees, breaks size records for a UK Pizza Hut deal, certainly in recent history. We are privileged to have worked with the Sellers for some years before the sale process began, during which time they built a large, market-leading and profitable business.”

David Crump, Senior Corporate Finance Manager, added “we are delighted to have placed the business with a leading retail franchise expert, Arif Jivraj, whom we have known for some years. He has ambitious plans and is certainly capable of accelerating the growth of the Pizza Hut brand in the UK.”

Viresh Patel, the brother leading the deal for the Sellers, described Smith Cooper’s “hard work, professional approach  and candid advice as being key to getting a deal done, and invaluable.”

Completed: May 2018

Experts that advised on this deal

David Crump

Corporate Finance Director

Derby