Frank­furt am Main / Bonn — With alre­ady eight restau­rants in the Rhine and Ruhr regi­ons and soon a flag­ship loca­tion in Frank­furt am Main, the young gastro­nomy brand “The ASH” is on course for expan­sion. The Frank­furt-based invest­ment company VR Equi­typ­art­ner is support­ing the fine-casual dining concept with capi­tal in the single-digit million range as part of a mezza­nine finan­cing to enable it to imple­ment its growth plans in an even more targe­ted manner.

The ASH is a brand laun­ched in 2015 by KSH 2 System­gas­tro­no­mie GmbH, which in turn is part of the Apei­ron Group. Apei­ron also opera­tes the Bullitt and Ginyuu brands and fran­chi­ses seve­ral L’Os­te­ria stores. Foun­der and co-CEO is Kent Hahne, an indus­try great who has been invol­ved in the deve­lo­p­ment of fran­chise systems such as Segaf­redo Germany and Vapiano, among others.

The ASH restau­rants take the idea of Ameri­can Supper Clubs from the 1920s. In a mix of restau­rant and bar, they combine steaks, burgers, fish and salads with hip drinks in a spacious atmo­sphere. The ambi­ance features an open kitchen with a centrally loca­ted lava grill, a long cock­tail bar and high-top tables, and a DJ booth. The ASH alre­ady employs more than 460 people and recently increased sales by 80 percent to around EUR 14 million; reve­nues of more than EUR 20 million are targe­ted for 2019.

Chris­tian Futter­lieb, Co-Mana­ging Direc­tor of VR Equi­typ­art­ner, says: “Kent Hahne is a very successful and expe­ri­en­ced system cate­rer whose enthu­si­asm for his concept is simply infec­tious. The first The ASH restau­rants have estab­lished them­sel­ves very successfully within a very short time. We are deligh­ted to be part of this growth story and to be able to expe­ri­ence the deve­lo­p­ment of the latest offshoot up close here in Frankfurt’s new Mari­en­fo­rum.” Kent Hahne adds: “We are very plea­sed about the part­ner­ship with VR Equi­typ­art­ner. We have always percei­ved the decis­ion-making process as very profes­sio­nal and fair. We will conti­nue on the chosen path toge­ther in the coming years.”

About VR Equi­typ­art­ner GmbH
VR Equi­typ­art­ner is one of the leading equity finan­ciers in Germany, Austria and Switz­er­land. The company supports medium-sized family busi­nesses in a goal-orien­ted manner and with deca­des of expe­ri­ence in the stra­te­gic solu­tion of complex finan­cing issues. Invest­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties include growth and expan­sion finan­cing, corpo­rate succes­sion or share­hol­der chan­ges. VR Equi­typ­art­ner offers majo­rity and mino­rity invest­ments as well as mezza­nine finan­cing. As a subsi­diary of DZ BANK, the central insti­tu­tion of the coope­ra­tive banks in Germany, VR Equi­typ­art­ner consis­t­ently puts the sustaina­bi­lity of corpo­rate deve­lo­p­ment ahead of short-term exit thin­king. VR Equitypartner’s port­fo­lio curr­ently compri­ses around 100 commit­ments with an invest­ment volume of EUR 500 million. www.vrep.de.

Consul­ting firms invol­ved in the tran­sac­tion by VR Equitypartner:
Commer­cial: Clau­dia Driver, Hamburg (former GF Jim Block and Block Bräu)Finan­cial: WKGT, Düssel­dorf, with Klaus Schaldt and Dr. Anne Schül­lerTax, Legal: WKGT, Düssel­dorf, with Tors­ten Reschke and Heike Welling