New groups buy Laurel Pub Company operations

Laurel Pub Company owner Robert Tchenguiz has put the group into administration and two new companies have immediately repurchased 293 sites.

The two new operations, backed by banks and a capital "injection" of between £50m and £60m from the Tchenguiz Discretionary Fund, are the Bay Restaurant Group (BRG) and the Town & City Pub Company (TPC).

In a back-to-back deal, Laurel has ceased to exist and BRG will house the group's food-led operations, including 84 Slug & Lettuce outlets, 24 ha ha bar & grills and 24 'pipeline' sites. It also includes 85 La Tasca outlets.

In a related move, Laurel's former pubs and bars' operation will now be owned and operated by TPC.

Former Laurel chairman Ian Payne will continue to oversee the two businesses. Paul Symonds, previously Laurel's chief executive, will head BRG, and Toby Smith, another ex-Laurel stalwart, will run TPC.

The 90 remaining sites that were closed by Laurel earlier this week are now in the hands of administrators Kroll. Laurel is now no longer liable for the rent bill of £8.6m on those properties.

Both new companies have been financed by a number of banks and what a spokesman called "a significant capital injection of between £50m and £60m from the Tchenguiz Discretionary Trust". The trust was advised by R20, a Tchenguiz vehicle.

"This deal creates certainty for existing staff," the spokesman added. "It helps creditors, the pension fund and it helps staff."

Of the 950 jobs at the closed sites being administered by Kroll around 800 were likely to be lost.

Laurel had previously looked at hiving off La Tasca as a separate company, possibly via a stock exchange listing.