Are we on the verge of more deals?

Does TDR's deal to buy some of Mitchells & Butlers' (M&B) unwanted assets mean we're about to return to the Good Old Days™ of corporate activity of a few years ago?

Maybe. It's possible that chunks of pubs will change hands as cash-rich companies and private equity firms chase assets they think can be turned around when the economy's equilibrium returns.

TDR Capital's move was guided by its founders Manjit Dale and Stephen Robertson, who helped create Punch Taverns at the end of the Nineties. The first large deal in ages, the TDR/M&B sale has certainly got some industry observers into a lather at the prospect of a new round of sector consolidation.

Yet while prices for certain assets are getting cheaper by the day, I still can't see private equity piling back into the on-trade just yet; at least not with the same (reckless?) abandon which accompanied it on its previous visits.

No matter how much cheaper pubs become, the recent history of the pub sector surely points to a more considered corporate approach. After all, the debt landscape has changed, although the risk/reward ratio can be flexed in any direction one wants, depending on circumstances.

TDR got a good deal because the circumstances were in its favour: resourced and willing buyers; the fact they knew the pubs' worth; the potential of the pubs involved; and M&B's desire to sell.

Rationalisation is the name of the game. After all, companies like Punch Taverns will want to get rid of a load of its pubs, in a "less is more" kind of way. Others presumably feel the same way. And then there's the individual distressed seller. But renewed big-time consolidation?

The halcyon days of mega-deals will likely remain just that, for now. And investors and employees will certainly be hoping the lessons of the past few years have been duly noted…