Punch's Phil Pegler to join former boss

Phil Pegler, the Punch executive who oversaw conversion of 750 Spirit managed pubs to lease, is to join

the company now run by

his former boss, Adrian Fawcett.

Fawcett stepped down as chief operating officer at Punch on 30

March to become chief executive of General Healthcare Group, a UK private hospital business.

It is understood that Pegler will join General Healthcare Group next month.

The group has 48 acute-care hospitals around the UK with more than 2,400 beds, 152 operating theatres and 37 pharmacies.

The company handles more than 250,000 inpatient and 750,000 outpatient visits every year and nearly half the procedures undertaken are of a major or complex nature.

Pegler opted to leave Punch after deciding there was no position he considered suitable after the completion of the Spirit conversion process.

A source said: "Phil and Adrian always got on particularly well."

l Pegler has also become a non-executive director of Peach Pub Company, the food-led operator run by Lee Cash and Hamish Stoddart.