Punch sells 545 pubs in £163m deal
Leased pub company Punch Taverns has sold 545 pubs to a company owned by property developer Goldtry for £162.5m.
The pubs were formerly part of the 1,064-strong estate Punch bought from rival InnSpired back in September.
They have been bought by Pubfolio, an acquisition vehicle set up by Goldtry, and will be managed by County Estates.
The deal means Punch has now sold a total of 596 pubs from the InnSpired estate, as it had to sell 51 pubs at the time of acquisition to meet competition concerns.
InnSpired's Wiltshire head office will be transferred to Pubfolio, although some of the InnSpired staff will remain at Punch to manage the remaining outlets from the estate.
The pubs being sold average an annual profit of £29,000 each and in the 12 months to the end of October generated a profit of £15.7m.
The 471 pubs being kept by Punch are mostly located in the south of England and average a profit of £52,000 per outlet per year.
They will be absorbed into the Punch estate once the transaction has completed next month.
Punch chief executive Giles Thorley said: "This transaction demonstrates Punch's ability to create value by acquiring pub assets, retaining those that meet our criteria and disposing profitably of the remainder, thereby further enhancing our estate."
by Nic Paton
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