Founded in 2002, Lexington has grown rapidly by drawing on the expertise of recognized professionals, and currently generates annual revenue of more than £30 million. Its 650 employees provide catering services to prestigious City clients, such as the London Business School, the Royal Bank of Canada, Savills and Rothschild.

This acquisition - whose completion is subject to the usual closing conditions including anti-trust clearance - will strengthen Elior’s position in London’s high-end Business & Industry catering market. It will be accretive for Elior UK’s EBIT margin as from 2015 and will subsequently lead to additional commercial and operational synergies that will create value for Elior in the United Kingdom.

Tim West, Chairman of Lexington, will become Non Executive Chairman of Elior UK. Mike Sunley, Lexington’s Chief Executive and one of its co-founders, will head up Elior’s newly-merged City of London catering operations, and will join Catherine Roe, Chief Executive of Elior UK, on the Executive Committee.

Meanwhile, Áreas Chile, an Areas subsidiary, has sold its 40% stake in Arcoprime - a joint venture set up in Chile with a local group, COPEC, which is responsible for Arcoprime’s operational management. The capital gain on disposal will be accounted for in the Group’s financial statements for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2014.

Gilles Petit, Chief Executive Officer of the Elior Group, stated ‘‘We are delighted to welcome Lexington’s teams into the Elior Group. This acquisition is a value-creating transaction that will enable us to build on our positions in the United Kingdom. It fits perfectly with our strategy of targeted growth, which consists of focusing on markets in which we already have a solid footing’’.

Elior has been present since 1999 in the United Kingdom, where it has some 6,000 employees and operates in the contract catering and leisure markets. Elior UK has recently won a number of major new contracts, including with BAE Portsmouth, Bank of England and Nottingham University Hospital. Both Elior UK and Lexington have been recognized by the Sunday Times as one of the ‘‘Best Companies to Work For’’.