Pubs group Mitchells & Butlers and private equity player GI Partners look to be leading the race to buy Whitbread’s stand-alone Brewers Fayre and Beefeater pub restaurants.

According to the Daily Mail, citing unidentified City sources, bids have now topped £500m following a flurry of offers and Robert Tchenguiz, owner of the Laurel Pub Company, has pulled out of the race.

Punch is also thought to have been knocked out.

It leaves the door open for Mitchells & Butlers, owner of the All Bar One and Harvester chains, and GI Partners, which recently bought 290 pubs from Punch.

Whitbread announced in April that it would sell some 235 Brewers Fayre and Beefeater pubs – those that were not located next to a Premier Travel Inn.

Its strategy is to concentrate instead on the fast-growing budget hotels chain and its Costa coffee bar operation. The strategy has already seen Whitbread dispose of its 46 Marriott-branded hotels in a £951m deal, struck in April.

Second round bids for the Beefeater and Brewers Fayre portfolio are due in on Friday and the result is expected to be announced within two weeks.

Marriott sell off complete >>

Whitbread to sell Brewers Fayre and Beefeater pub restaurants >>

Mitchells & Butlers tempted by Whitbread's Brewers Fayre and Beefeater >>

Punch Taverns sells 290 pubs to GI Partners for £571m >>

By David Shrimpton

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