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Travelodge UK
Travelodge Hotels Limited, trading as Travelodge, is a private company operating in the hotels and hospitality industry throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and Spain. Company history Opening by Trusthouse Forte In the early 1970s, Charles Forte imported the Travelodge brand from the United States with the hope of establishing it in the UK. The first Travelodge locations opened in 1973 in former Excelsior Motor Lodge branches, a brand of motels owned by Forte which were located near busy roads. In 1976, Trusthouse Forte would open Little Chef Lodges; these were attached to Little Chef restaurants and the first chain of budget hotels in the UK. In 1988, the two chains were combined and rebranded to become "Forte Travelodge". Granada ownership In 1995, Travelodge was bought by Granada, when the Forte Group (formerly Trusthouse Forte) underwent a hostile takeover. Granada decided to open Travelodges away from the roadside, with the first urban Travelodge opening in 1997. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Little Chef
Little Chef was a British chain of roadside restaurants; founded in 1958 by Sam Alper and Peter Merchant who were inspired by American Diner, diners. The chain was famous for the "Olympic Breakfast" – its version of a full English breakfast – as well as its "Early Starter" and "Jubilee Pancakes". The restaurants were mostly located on A roads, often paired with a Travelodge UK, Travelodge hotel, a Burger King and a petrol station. The chain was also located along Motorway, motorways in Moto Hospitality, Moto Services, for a time. The chain expanded rapidly throughout the 1970s, with its parent company acquiring its only major competitor, Happy Eater, in the 1980s. After all Happy Eater locations were converted to the Little Chef fascia in the late 1990s, the chain peaked with 439 restaurants. Little Chef began to face decline in the early 2000s, mainly due to over-expansion, meaning it could not properly invest in all of its locations. By the end of 2005, almost half of its ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mitchells & Butlers
Mitchells & Butlers plc (also referred to as "M&B") runs circa 1,784 managed pubs, bars and restaurants throughout the United Kingdom. The company's headquarters are in Birmingham, England. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. Its branded restaurants and bars include All Bar One, Miller & Carter, Nicholson's, Toby Carvery, Harvester, Browns Restaurants, Vintage Inns, Ember Inns, Son of Steak, Stonehouse Pizza & Grill, Crown Carveries, O'Neill's, Premium Country Pubs, and Sizzling Pubs. The company also owns the ALEX brand based in Germany. History Historic brewing company Mitchells & Butlers Brewery was formed by the merger of two breweries in 1898. The company merged with Bass in 1961. With the brand currently under ownership of Coors Brewers, the brewery closed in 2002 with production switched to Burton upon Trent. Their most famous beer was ''Brew XI'' (using Roman numerals, and so pronounced ''Brew Eleven' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab Emirates, seven emirates, with Abu Dhabi serving as its capital. It shares land borders with Oman to the east and northeast, and with Saudi Arabia to the southwest; as well as maritime borders in the Persian Gulf with Qatar and Iran, and with Oman in the Gulf of Oman. , the UAE has an estimated population of over 10 million, of which 11% are Emiratis; Dubai is List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, its most populous city and is an international hub. Islam is the State religion, official religion and Arabic is the official language, while English is the most spoken language and the language of business. The United Arab Emirates Oil reserves in the United Arab Emirates, oil and natural gas reserves are the world's List of countries by pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dubai International Capital
Dubai International Capital (DIC) is the international investment arm of Dubai Holding, a global conglomerate and sovereign wealth fund of the government of Dubai and its House of Maktoum, ruling family. DIC invests private funds on behalf of Dubai Holding and several large third-party investors around the world with a mandate to build a portfolio of internationally diversified assets. DIC, which was founded in 2004, invests in stock, public and private equity through three divisions: *Private Equity: Invests in mid-cap companies in Europe and North America with a focus on secondary buy-outs that include Travelodge, Merlin Entertainments, Doncasters, Mauser, Alliance Medical and Almatis. *Emerging Markets: Manages a broad investment program across the Middle East and North Africa region, including LBOs, funds and co-investments, infrastructure, growth and development capital *Public Equities: Focused on investment in Fortune 500 companies through its DFSA regulated US$1.5 b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Gloucestershire to the west. The city of Oxford is the largest settlement and county town. The county is largely rural, with an area of and a population of 691,667. After Oxford (162,100), the largest settlements are Banbury (54,355) and Abingdon-on-Thames (37,931). For local government purposes Oxfordshire is a non-metropolitan county with five districts. The part of the county south of the River Thames, largely corresponding to the Vale of White Horse district, was historically part of Berkshire. The lowlands in the centre of the county are crossed by the River Thames and its tributaries, the valleys of which are separated by low hills. The south contains parts of the Berkshire Downs and Chiltern Hills, and the north-west includes part o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire (; abbreviated ''Beds'') is a Ceremonial County, ceremonial county in the East of England. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Hertfordshire to the south and the south-east, and Buckinghamshire to the west. The largest settlement is Luton (225,262), and Bedford is the county town. The county has an area of and had a population of 704,736 at the 2021 census. ''plus'' ''plus'' Its other towns include Leighton Buzzard, Dunstable, Biggleswade, Houghton Regis, and Flitwick. Much of the county is rural. For Local government in England, local government purposes, Bedfordshire comprises three Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas: Borough of Bedford, Bedford, Central Bedfordshire, and Luton. The county's highest point is on Dunstable Downs in the Chilterns. History The first recorded use of the name in 1011 was "Bedanfordscir", meaning the shire or county of Bedford, which itself means "Beda's ford ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Toddington, Bedfordshire
Toddington is a large village and civil parish in the county of Bedfordshire, England. It is situated 5 miles north-north-west of Luton, north of Dunstable, south-west of Woburn, and 35 miles north-north-west of London on the B5120 and B579. It is 0.5 miles from Junction 12 of the M1 motorway and lends its name to the nearby motorway service station. The hamlet of Fancott also forms part of the Toddington civil parish. Toddington is built around a large village green, around which sit the parish church and four of the village's six public houses. The Dunstable Northern Bypass taking heavy traffic bound for Dunstable from the M1 away from the village was delayed but a restart was announced in September 2011, and opened in May 2017. A large-scale housebuilding programme has been proposed by the government for the environs of Luton, Dunstable and Milton Keynes, and proposals to build a 20,000 seat football stadium to replace Kenilworth Road were withdrawn in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Special-purpose Entity
A special-purpose entity (SPE), also called a special-purpose vehicle (SPV) or a financial vehicle corporation (FVC), is a legal entity (usually a limited company of some type or, sometimes, a limited partnership) created to fulfill narrow, specific or temporary objectives. SPEs are typically used by companies to isolate the firm from financial risk. A formal definition is "The Special Purpose Entity is a fenced organization having limited predefined purposes and a legal personality". Normally a company will transfer assets to the SPE for management or use the SPE to finance a large project thereby achieving a narrow set of goals without putting the entire firm at risk. SPEs are also commonly used in complex financings to separate different layers of equity infusion. Commonly created and registered in tax havens, SPEs allow tax avoidance strategies unavailable in the home district. Round-tripping is one such strategy. In addition, they are commonly used to own a single asset and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Permira
Permira Holdings Limited is a British global investment firm specialised in buyouts, growth funds, equity funds, and credit funds. Founded in 1985 as part of Schroders, it became independent in 1996. Operating as Permira since 2001, the company became one of the largest buyout specialists. , Permira advises funds with total committed capital of €80 billion, which have invested in more than 300 companies worldwide. The company employs over 470 people in 15 offices across Europe, North America and Asia. In June 2024, Permira ranked 20th in Private Equity International's PEI 300 ranking among the world's largest private equity firms. History In the 1980s, J. Henry Schroder Wagg, a multinational asset management company, developed a concept for private equity funds to finance management buyouts. It operated as Schroder Ventures, headquartered in the UK. Nicholas Ferguson (businessman), Nicholas Ferguson was appointed Chairperson, chairman. In many European countries like German ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Compass Group
Compass Group plc is a British multinational contract foodservice company headquartered in Chertsey, England. It is the largest contract foodservice company in Europe, ahead of Sodexo, employing over 500,000 people. It serves meals in locations including offices and factories, schools, universities, hospitals, major sports and cultural venues, mining camps, correctional facilities and offshore oil platforms. Compass Group is listed on the London Stock Exchange, and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index and is also a Fortune Global 500 company. History Origin Compass Group has its origins in a company which was founded by Jack Bateman in 1941 as Factory Canteens Limited; subsequently, the company became known as Bateman Catering. Bateman Catering and Midland Catering were acquired by conglomerate Grand Metropolitan in 1967 and 1968 respectively and a management buy-out from Grand Metropolitan followed in 1987 when the Compass Group was formed. Public listing Compass Group w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
