The London-listed restaurant group part-owned by Hugh Osmond, one of Britain’s most prominent entrepreneurs, will this week tap investors for more than £12m as it seeks to expand amid rivals’ difficulties.

Sky News has learnt that Various Eateries, which trades under the Noci and Coppa Club brands, has drawn up plans to raise about £12m to open a pipeline of new sites during the next couple of years.

City sources said that institutional investors had been sounded out about the cash call in recent days, with the fundraising expected to announced sometime this week.

The share sale, which one fund manager said Mr Osmond was likely to back in order to maintain his near-50% stake in the company, will come against a challenging backdrop in the UK casual dining sector.

While many chains, such as the Italian-themed Carluccios, went through restructurings and insolvency processes during the pandemic, others are now focused on taking advantage of lower-cost leases in prime hospitality locations.

Noci is positioned as a modern Italian pasta restaurant concept which has the potential for national expansion, while Coppa Club operates clubhouse-style spaces addressing shifts in consumer behaviour since the COVID crisis.

In the hospitality sector, Mr Osmond is best-known for his involvement in the successful expansion of both Punch Taverns and Pizza Express, which he exited with sizeable windfalls and having opened and absorbed hundreds of new sites.

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WH Ireland, the investment bank, is working on the Various Eateries capital-raising.

Shares in Various Eateries closed on Monday at 27.5p, giving the company a market value of £24.5m.

A spokesman declined to comment on Monday.

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