Laurel float in 2008?

Property tycoon Robert Tchenguiz is looking to chop his Laurel Pub Company in half towards the end of next year and float the food-led division.

The decision hinges on how well the flotation of Cafe Rouge operator Tragus goes in the New Year.

Laurel Pub Company's restaurant division is expected to hit the 280-site mark eventually and could be worth around £400m.

Slug & Lettuce is expected to reach the 100-site mark by the end of this year, with the potential to add a further 25 sites next year coming from internal conversions.

The La Tasca tapas restaurant concept is expected to reach about the same number of sites, boosted by conversions of existing sites within the estate. Ha! Ha! Bar & Grill, which has six sites opening during the winter, makes up the rest of the division.

A Laurel source said: "We have a huge internal pipeline of sites for conversion to Slug & Lettuce and La Tasca."

Laurel has also produced a list of 75 target locations for Slug & Lettuce, with one third of them in London.

It also has a list of just over 40 target areas for La Tasca, half of them areas of London and six of them shopping centres. It is understood that seven or eight sites within Laurel have already been ear-marked for conversion.

A flotation of the food-led parts of Laurel would leave around 170 wet-led bars, made up mostly of Yates Group sites but with a number of Litten Trees, Hogsheads and unbranded sites.

A source close to Laurel said the remaining wet-led sites could be used as a vehicle to do other deals. "It is highly cash-generative," the source added.

Laurel has around 30 or so wet-led bars that it has been trying to sell through Davis Coffer Lyons. Laurel was created in four separate deals - the acquisition of Laurel's high-street sites in 2004, Yates Group and 98 sites from SFI Group in 2005 and the purchase of La Tasca this year.