More managed houses are to be converted to leases and tenancies after the sale of 646 pubs by Scottish & Newcastle (S&N).
It has sold 432 managed houses to Enterprise Inns for £263m and they will be transferred "in due course". Enterprise has indicated that some of the S&N managers will be offered the chance to take on their pubs as tenancies or leases.
Another 214 outlets have been sold to Noble House Leisure for £97.1m, although it has not revealed its plans for the outlets and their staff. Noble House, which owns the Jim Thompson's and Sri oriental restaurant chains, pulled out of the bidding for Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries (W&DB) in May.
The 646 pubs, sold for a total of £354m, are part of a package of 740 managed houses put on the market by S&N earlier this year so it could focus on larger branded pubs. Enterprise and Noble House have been seen as the most likely buyers for some time, as reported on ThePublican.com on April 22. (See Enterprise and Noble House to buy S&N pubs (April 22, 2001) for full details).
Chief executive Brian Stewart (pictured) said the remaining 94 pubs would all be sold in the near future, with some already disposed of individually.
The latest deal follows Enterprise's acquisition of 439 former Whitbread managed houses from Morgan Grenfell Private Equity's Laurel Pub Company this month.
It will boost the size of Enterprise's estate to over 3,400, and chairman Hubert Reid added: "There is considerable scope for the company to effect further acquisitions."
The tenanted pub group has already agreed to buy 59 managed houses from Pubmaster if it goes ahead with its proposed takeover of W&DB.
Mr Reid said: "We believe these managed pubs from S&N can be operated more profitably as leases and tenancies, and we will be adopting the conversion process that has been so successful in the past."
About a third of Enterprise's current estate has been converted from managed, including most of the 183 former Vaux pubs bought from Whitbread last year.
Mr Reid said: "This approach saw more than half the managers in the pubs acquired staying on and taking a tenancy with Enterprise."
Enterprise intends to raise £66m through issuing shares which will help to fund the S&N deal and to pay back borrowings agreed when it bought the Morgan Grenfell pubs.
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Enterprise buys 439 ex-Whitbread managed houses (May 22, 2001)