To sell and lease?

It's fair to say eyebrows were raised across the property world last week after Enterprise Inns revealed its plan to sell then lease back a number of its London pubs for around £15m.

Raised because sale and leaseback deals always bring up questions about "selling off the family silver".

The group's CEO Ted Tuppen said last week he sees the move as a way of refinancing some of its existing £1bn of bank debt.

There were those who suggested to me since that this was less a case of 'refinancing' and more one of 'financial engineering'. Others argued the multiples being quoted were far too ambitious, given some of this year's managed pub deals.

Most I spoke to argued the rents being offered were way too high, and that if Enterprise went bust investors would be left with a large hole in their income stream.

Besides, his auctioneers have assured him it is an attractive proposition, though one is tempted to recall the wise words of Mandy Rice-Davis at such a point.

Not that Tuppen cares I'm sure, but this deal has made some people look at Enterprise in a different light.

One property expert I spoke to about it opened our discussion with the word

'Provence'. Another mentioned London & Edinburgh Inns.

No-one is suggesting that the UK's second largest pubco is anything like those two failed entities. But that it's even being mentioned in the same breath as these two shows how wary some in the market are.

However, Enterprise thinks it's onto something. And as Tuppen said, if the market thinks the rents are too high then the pubs will stay on Enterprise's books.

I guess we'll have to wait until October 15 to know for sure.