Lawyers in the Bristol head office of TLT advised Conviviality, the drinks distributor behind the Bargain Booze retail chain, on its pre-Christmas acquisition of convenience store group Central Convenience out of administration.
TLT’s multi-disciplinary team completed the deal in just seven days, including advising on the listing of new shares. 
Conviviality snapped up the stores from WS Retail, a subsidiary of Palmer & Harvey McLane, which went into administration in November.
The deal included 109 owned convenience stores and 18 franchised stores and was funded by a placing of 8m new ordinary shares.
TLT advised Conviviality, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM Market, on the acquisition, licensing, real estate, restructuring and placing aspects of the transaction.
The multi-disciplinary team, with extensive retail sector expertise, consulted on the terms of the acquisition agreement and advised on the licensing and real estate implications of acquiring the significant portfolio of high street trade outlets.
TLT’s equity capital markets lawyers also advised on the placing of the new ordinary shares.
The TLT team was led by partner and corporate team leader John Wood, with support from equity capital markets partner Stephen Devlin and legal director Liz Delaney, restructuring partner Peter Carney and associate Tom Ward, licensing partner Matthew Phipps and legal director Andrew Griffin and property legal director James D Webb.
Conviviality group head of legal and company secretary Ciaran Stone said: “We are very grateful to TLT for their hard work and advice on this transaction. The team worked well together, bringing together all the sector and service specialisms we needed to see this through and complete in a short space of time.”
John Wood added: “There is a considerable amount of transactional activity in the retail sector, as businesses respond to pressures and opportunities in the market. These deals can be particularly complex, given the assets involved and the speed at which the market moves.
“With deep retail sector knowledge and the scale of service line expertise in corporate, restructuring, equity capital markets and licensing across our national teams, TLT was able to quickly apply significant expert advisory resource to deliver for Conviviality. Conviviality is a strong, acquisitive business and we are delighted to have been a part of this exciting new step they have taken.”
As well as its 611 Bargain Booze outlets, Conviviality also owns the Select Convenience and Wine Rack retail brands.
The acquisition estate included 20 petrol forecourts and stores incorporating 47 Post Offices.
