Pubs and brewery group Marston’s on Monday agreed a £44.9 million sale of 137 watering holes, in a move that will help trim its debt mountain.
The Pitcher & Piano bars operator, which runs more than 1500 pubs, has offloaded the sites to privately owned firm Admiral Taverns.
The deal comes three weeks after Marston’s, which had a debt pile of around £1.4 billion as at October, said it will speed up its debt reduction target of £200 million by 2023. It has upped the value of disposals to £70 million, from £40 million, in the current financial year.
Marston’s boss Ralph Findlay said the firm is making good progress in cutting debt in “part through the disposal of non-core assets”. He added: “We are encouraged by the level of market interest this portfolio of pubs has attracted.”
There has been increased demand for pubs this year, with a wave of mergers and acquisitions. Deals include Greene King being bought by Hong Kong’s richest man Li Ka-shing.
Analysts have speculated Marston’s could be the next target.
Shares in Marston’s rose 1.5p to 124.7p.
Chris Jowsey, chief executive of Admiral Taverns said: “We remain fully committed to the leased and tenanted model and through this acquisition have been able to acquire an excellent portfolio of pubs."
