Pubfolio plans expansion of estate

Pubfolio has whetted the market's appetite with talk of further rapid expansion of its 800-strong portfolio.

Pubfolio boss Richard Hatter confirmed he was negotiating with potential vendors and said Pubfolio was looking at a further large deal or deals.

"We want to expand over the next 12 to 24 months with significant acquisitions in terms of the size of our current portfolio and we're considering large corporate and portfolio deals," he said. "I'm obviously unable to comment on specifics at the moment as we are in talks."

The private equity-backed Pubfolio was created by majority-owner Peter Shalson for the £34m purchase of 157 Enterprise pubs early in 2004.

This was swiftly followed by the £162.5m acquisition in December of 545 ex-InnSpired pubs being churned by Punch, taking the estimated value of Pubfolio's holdings to £250m. Pubfolio backer Mr Shalson is typical of the new breed of entrepreneur - such as Robert Tchenguiz - that are moving quickly to snap up large parcels of pubs. The aim is to rapidly build sizeable portfolios from the churn created by the deals of super-pubcos such as Enterprise and Punch, with a view to realising large future profits based on the property value of the estates.

And the day-to-day running of the pubs is farmed out to County Estate Management while Pubfolio's directors focus on deals in the City.

Last year Pubfolio sprang from nowhere to become the 10th largest pub estate in Britain.

Any new acquisitions will focus on tenanted community pubs in line with its existing business model.