We have been very active in the sale and purchase of large portfolios of pubs and bars in the UK since the brewing companies first started to dispose of such assets. Several of these transactions are mentioned below.

We have also undertaken the re-financing and securitisation of pub companies and estates.

Our experience includes advising:

  • Barclays, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, The Royal Bank of Scotland and Merrill Lynch as managers of a £2.125bn refinancing by Spirit Group of the Scottish & Newcastle pubs estate;
  • Fuller, Smith & Turner Plc, the London-based pubs, hotels and brewing group, on its bid for the regional brewer George Gale and Company;
  • Goldman Sachs, as lead manager, on its £100m issue for the Spirit Group to finance the acquisition of Tom Cobleigh Pub Company;
  • Laurel Pub Company on modification of existing outsourcing arrangements with CSC;
  • Marston's Plc on the disposal of 279 tenanted pubs to the aAim Group for £32.5m;
  • Marston's on its acquisition of Eldridge Pope estate for £155.1m from Michael Cannon;
  • Scottish & Newcastle on the £2.51bn sale of its retail activities, comprised of its managed pubs, hotels, and pub/restaurants business including 1,450 pubs to Spirit;
  • Scottish & Newcastle on the £345m acquisition by Globe Pub Company of a portfolio of 364 managed pubs from Spirit with long term management, beer supply and trade loan arrangements from Scottish & Newcastle;
  • The R20 Limited consortium on its £4.6bn bid for pub chain Mitchells and Butler;
  • The Royal Bank of Scotland Financial Markets as lead arranger on the £600m whole business securitisation of 904 pubs belonging to pub and brewing group Greene King plc;
  • The Royal Bank of Scotland on its £1.82bn refinancing of two pub securitisations for Punch Taverns; and
  • Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries on its £805m refinancing of the Group’s debentures and bank debt via a securitisation of the Group’s managed and tenanted pub estate. The deal involved 1,592 managed and tenanted pubs.

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