Reuben brothers buy into pubs portfolio
The billionaire Reuben brothers have taken an equity stake in the 220 pubs property tycoons Nick Leslau and Tom Hunter have bought from Spirit Group. The brothers have invested around £10m to take a stake slightly in excess of 10%. Leslau and Hunter, together with the Bank of Scotland, paid £500m in debt and equity for the portfolio of 220 pubs, which Spirit has leased back on 30-year agreements. The pubs were part of the portfolio that Spirit acquired for £2.51bn last October. Yates Group sites are sold Buyers have been found for six of 11 high street sites being sold by Yates Group. The three freeholds and eight leaseholds are being sold for an average of £236,000 each. Chief executive Mark Jones said: "It's still quite hard work getting buyers with decent covenants. We're avoiding the pitfall of selling lots of sites to one buyer. We're selling sites to well-capitalised individuals who know their local market. It takes longer but avoids the risk of them coming back at some stage in the future." Meanwhile, new-style Yates sites saw a 5.3% increase in like-for-likes in the 10 weeks to 14 March. Moran offloads Dublin pubs Moran Hotel Group is to sell three of its Dublin pubs to focus on operating hotels. The pubs, which will be sold at public auction next month, are the Playwright in Blackrock, the Baroque in Clondalkin and the Pierhouse in Skerries. The company recently opened the Crown Moran Hotel in London. Christopher Pope loses cancer fight Eldridge Pope is mourning the death of Christopher Pope, former chairman and the fourth generation of the family to work for the company. Pope, who was a non-executive director of the West Country pub company and former brewer, died after a long battle with cancer. The last remaining family member to work in senior management, he resigned as chairman last autumn after falling ill. Pope worked for Heineken in the Netherlands after leaving the Army, then joined the Dorchester-based Eldridge Pope entered into by his great-great grandfather, Alfred Pope, in the 1870s.
