Santander has invested £2.4m (€2.95m) in Thai restaurant group Chaophraya through its regional mezzanine initiative.
Chaophraya has restaurants in Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, Birmingham and Glasgow. The fresh capital will be used to open a new restaurant in Edinburgh next month and expand its Leeds restaurant.
The first Chaophraya restaurant was opened in Leeds in 2004 by Martin Stead and Kim Kaewkraikhot. The company has since launched the “ChaoBaby” brand which is designed for shopping centres.
Santander's mezz programme emerged from discussions between major UK banks and the government to stimulate funding in small businesses. Other banks including Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland decided to invest in the Business Growth Fund, while Santander has earmarked around £200m to invest in junior debt.
