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meeson · Site Admin Joined: 26 Feb 2007 Posts: 615

Shepherd Neame buys 13 Punch pubs for £15m

Package of freehold managed and tenanted pubs takes brewer's estate to 378

Shepherd Neame, the Kent brewer, has announced it has bought 13 freehold pubs from Punch Taverns for £14.9m in cash.

The pubs, three managed and 10 leased, are all located in South East of England, particularly around Greater London and Surrey, the group said.

The deal is the latest of a round of disposals by Punch, which is off-loading pubs in order to raise cash to pay down debt, particularly its 2010 convertible bond, which matures in December next year.

Other deals involving regional brewers picking up Punch pubs are believed to be announced in the next day or so.

There are three managed houses and ten leased pubs in the Sheps deal, bringing the Faversham-based company’s total estate to 378 pubs - 49 managed pubs and 329 tenanted and leased pubs.

Sheps said the acquisition, which completes on May 26, 2009, is expected to generate in excess of £1.9m of EBITDA (from both pub operations and own-brewed barrelage) in the first full financial year to June 2010 with a positive impact on earnings.

The purchase will be financed by a new five year term loan of £15m arranged by the Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group.

Simultaneously Shepherd Neame’s existing £10m revolving credit facility has been extended from 2012 to 2014.

Sheps said the pricing of an existing £60m term loan, maturing in 2026, remains unchanged.

The latest acquisition follows the recent Central London purchases of the Jamaica Wine House and the Westminster Arms. Proceeds from Sheps' pub sales in the year to date total £7.2m gross.

Jonathan Neame, Sheps’ chief executive, said: “This is an excellent opportunity to acquire a package of high quality individual pubs within our core trading area.”