Pub operator Punch weighs up GBP 5 billion bid for pub group Mitchells & Butlers
Punch Taverns, Britain’s biggest pub company, was rumoured to be in the early stages of considering an audacious GBP 5 billion-plus bid for Mitchells & Butlers (M&B), the owner of the All Bar One and Harvester chains.
The possible move comes as M&B considers off-loading its pub property assets into a real estate investment trust (Reit) after the collapse of a GBP 4.5 billion property joint venture with Robert Tchenguiz. The entrepreneur, who speaks for an estimated 19 percent of M&B, is tipped to be a key investor in the Reit.
In November M&B was valued at GBP 2.59 billion, or GBP 5.1 billion including debt. It owns 2,200 pubs. Punch stock has dropped by one third, this year, valuing the company at GBP 2.3 billion.
A combination of the two companies would create the UK’s largest pub company, with 11,000 outlets and a market value of GBP 4.9 billion, the Financial Times reported.
Punch, which declined to comment, is best known as a tenanted and leased pub owner, but two years ago, it returned to the managed pub sector by acquiring Spirit Group for GBP 2.7 billion after outbidding Mr Tchenguiz. It subsequently bought Mill House Inns.
On 24 November, M&B said it hasn’t had an approach from Punch.
