Street Talk

Toast of the town: BGH sells cult Melbourne bakery to global giant

Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport

Mar 12, 2025 – 11.04am

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BGH Capital’s investors are rolling in dough after the buyout firm completed a deal to sell its stake in Melbourne French bakery chain and artisan breadmaker Laurent Bakery Group for a valuation of around $650 million.

Street Talk can reveal Rothschild-advised Bridor – a global bakery giant founded in 1988 by Louis Le Duff and based in Brittany, France – agreed terms to acquire Laurent Bakery in late December. The exit is understood to have served up a circa three-times return for BGH in less than four years.

Sarah Thompson has co-edited Street Talk since 2009, specialising in private equity, investment banking, M&A and equity capital markets stories. Prior to that, she spent 10 years in London as a markets and M&A reporter at Bloomberg and Dow Jones.

Kanika Sood is a journalist based in Sydney who writes for the Street Talk column.

Emma Rapaport is a co-editor of the Street Talk column. Prior to that, she was a markets reporter at The Australian Financial Review.