LUKE JOHNSON, the chairman of Channel 4, has bought a controlling stake in Patisserie Valerie, the chain of upmarket French cafés, The Times has learnt.

Mr Johnson, who bought a minority stake in Seafood Partners last week in a deal valuing the fresh-fish distributor at about £12 million, is understood to have acquired a stake of about 80 per cent in Patisserie Valerie through his Risk Capital Partners investment vehicle.

It is believed that Coffer Corporate Leisure, the agent handling the sale for the Scalzo family, was looking for offers valuing the company at about £8 million. It is said to have a turnover of more than £8 million and profits of £1 million.

The first outlet opened in Frith Street, Soho, in 1926, when the Belgian-born Madame Valérie decided to introduce continental patisserie to the English. It moved around the corner to its present location in Old Compton Street after those premises were destroyed in the Blitz.

The decor of the site is a holdover from the 1950s, complete with Toulouse-Lautrec cartoons. Since 1987 Patisserie Valerie has been owned by the Scalzo brothers, Enzo, Robert and Victor, who have turned the business into a chain of 11 cafés, all in London, including three franchised outlets.

The sale process is understood to have been sparked by a difference of opinion between the eldest Scalzo, Enzo, and Robert and Victor, who are twins, over the best way forward for the business.

Under the terms of the deal with Risk Capital Partners, the younger Scalzos are to stay with the business and will retain a holding of about 20 per cent.

The new funding structure is designed to enable the company to open further sites in London while expanding outside the capital.

Mr Johnson has made much of his estimated £100 million fortune from the restaurant sector. In 1993, with Hugh Osmond and David Page, he floated PizzaExpress on the stock market.

Later he floated the Belgo chain, subsequently renamed Signature Restaurants, only to take it private and sell out to Richard Caring, the clothing entrepreneur, for a substantial profit. Mr Johnson has also been involved in the My Kinda Town restaurants and the Laurel Pub Company and was a founding shareholder of Punch Taverns when that enterprise was set up by Mr Osmond.

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