International law firm Olswang has advised Calculus Capital, a specialist private equity investor, on its first investment in the restaurant sector with Mexican-themed Benito's Hat. Calculus' involvement covers most of the £1.4m capital injected into the business to facilitate the roll-out of more restaurants over the next few years.

Founded in 2008 by Ben Fordham and Felipe Fuentes Cruz, Benito's hat is a fast-casual restaurant business with four sites in central London. The investment by Calculus will help to raise the number of sites to 10 by the end of 2014.

Ben Fordham will continue to be involved in the business and the management team is being enhanced with the appointment of Graham Ford, previously Operations Director at Italian restaurant chain Strada and Jay Travis, the previous Operations Director of wagamama, who will be joining the board as Chairman.

Calculus Capital is a specialist in creating and managing private equity funds for individuals. It has a range of Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and Venture Capital Trust (VCT) funds which invest in small, established UK unquoted companies. Calculus launched the UK's first approved EIS fund in 1999 and its entrepreneurial flair, combined with experience and sound commercial judgment has resulted in an impressive track record of investment success.

Corporate Partner and head of Olswang's Leisure practice, David Roberts said: "We are very pleased to be working with one of the major EIS funds in the UK in the form of Calculus. We think there is still plenty of growth in the Mexican market in the UK and the funding provided to Benito's Hat will be welcomed by Ben and his management team as crucial for the growth of the brand".

Rick Jones, Principal at Calculus said: "As one of the country's leading leisure firms, Olswang were the right partner for Calculus as it made its first foray into the fast casual dining space in the UK. We very much enjoyed working with David, Gordon and Alice".

The Olswang team consisted of Corporate Partner David Roberts, Lead Corporate Associate Gordon Ker, Corporate Trainee Alice Hyde, Real Estate associate Maria Demetriou, Employment Associate Jenny Poole.

http://www.olswang.com/news/2013/05/olswang-helps-calculus-capital-to-e…