MORE than 50 jobs at one of Southampton's favourite restaurants have been saved following a management buy-out.
The deal has just been secured, enabling Spanish tapas bar Los Marinos to avoid closure and move to new premises in Town Quay.
It opens to customers tomorrow.
Staff of Los Marinos Waterfront Ltd were told last summer that their landmark Ocean Village premises were to be sold to make way for the luxury Admiral's Quay flats.
In an effort to save the business from closure, general manager Eddy Pede and restaurant manger Shannon Woods were determined to continue in a new location.
After six months searching for new premises, Los Marinos identified a site in Town Quay.
However, Mr Pede and Mr Woods were then faced with the task of pulling together the different elements of a management buy-out and acquisition in order to transfer the business and keep it going.
At this stage they approached Business Link Wessex, an independent source of business advice, and were introduced to Robin Edwards from the business finance team.
Los Marinos has secured funding from private equity and loans, enabling Mr Pede and Mr Woods to transfer their team and take over the existing Old Orleans premises and staff. All of the 50 original Los Marinos staff were offered the opportunity to make the transfer or take a redundancy package.
Almost three-quarters chose to stay, and they combined with Old Orleans' staff of 15 to work for the new company, which will operate under the name of Los Marinos.
Mr Pede said: "This achievement is astounding for us. Business Link Wessex has helped us make our dreams come true when we thought we were losing our livelihood."
Mr Edwards said: "It has been a worrying time for staff at the restaurant over the past few months and we're extremely pleased to have been able to assist the management buy-out team in order to reach this positive outcome."
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