S&NPE aims at up to 500 more pubs

S&NPE nears single-site acquiaition target

Scottish & Newcastle Pub Enterprises (S&NPE) is looking to add between 300 and 500 pubs over the coming three years, according to director of acquisitions Andrew Cannons.

The company, which runs pubs on behalf of freehold owners such as Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Robert Tchenguiz, is already set to pass its single-site acquisitions target of 72 pubs by May this year. Cannons, who leads a seven-strong team of pub buyers at S&NPE, is now targeting 100 individual pubs for the calendar year.

He said: "There are still some good opportunities to buy single sites. And as large-scale acquisition opportunities come in, we're certainly in the market to acquire them."

Last week, S&NPE bought 30 pubs from Tadcaster Pub Company. It is understood S&NPE began talks with Tadcaster in January after agreement that it could pick the pubs that best suited its business model.

Said Cannons: "We picked the pubs that were right for us. There were one or two raised eyebrows at Tadcaster about the ones we chose."

S&NPE traditionally holds newly-acquired pubs on its balance sheet before selling them on to investors such as RBS and Tchenguiz. Cannons said S&NPE had not yet approached one of its funding partners in relation to selling the Tadcaster pubs.

S&NPE is also in a partnership with British Waterways to develop canal-side pubs. It also has a target of buying six pubs a year for this business.

S&NPE is also running the 29 pubs owned by InnDeed Group, the tenanted operator led by Peter Brook.

Walsh adds to hotel holdings

Jim Walsh, who owns 75% of the shares in Tadcaster Pub Company, bought four hotels from the company for £4m at the same time as the S&NPE deal. The hotels, which have around 100 bedrooms between them, have been bought for the Walsh family trust. "This underlines my commitment to the sector," said Walsh.