Enterprise Inns sale and leaseback pubs go for £13.2m

Enterprise Inns saw five of its freehold pubs being sold as part of a sale and leaseback deal go under the hammer this afternoon for a total of £13.15m.

A sixth freehold site due to be sold at the auction was sold for an undisclosed sum before proceedings got underway. The sale, announced by Enterprise last month and conducted by auctioneers Allsop in London, was designed to raise money to help pay down some of the group's billion-pound debt.

Enterprise is likely to have been encouraged by the pubs going for well above their guide estimates. More sale and leaseback disposals are likely, with the pubco's chief executive Ted Tuppen having already hinted that up to 200 sites could be sold in this way.

The pubs, all based in London, are:

The Blue Posts, in Soho, which went for an undisclosed price before the auction commenced

The Barely Mow, in Westminster, which sold for £2.68m, against a guide price of £2.3m, offering a rental yield of 6.53 per cent

The Duke of York, in Maida Vale, North London, sold for £2.5m, against a guide price of between £1.8m and £1.85m, with a yield of 5.4 per cent

The Goat In Boots, in Chelsea, West London, which went for £3.33m against a guide price of between £2.55m and £2.6m, offering a yield of 5.7 per cent

The Blue Anchor, in Hammersmith, West London, sold for £2.14m, versus a guide price of between £1.95m and £2.05m, yielding 7.2 per cent

The Coat & Badge, in Putney, South West London, auctioned off for £2.5m against a guide price of between £1.85m and £1.95m, on a yield of six per cent.

Enterprise Inns chief executive Ted Tuppen has stated the group could sell between 100 and 200 pubs through a sale and leaseback arrangement.

When the pubco announced the London pub sales last month Tuppen said: "This is an attractive proposition for people with cash to invest, one that will get them a return of around six per cent a year with a blue chip company.

"It will also give a strong indication as to underpinning the value of the pubs on our balance sheet," he added.