20 March 2002
Legal & General Ventures ("LGV"), one of Europe’s leading private equity firms, has, together with a consortium of private equity investors and Enterprise Inns plc ("Enterprise"), supported the acquisition of the Unique Pub Company and Voyager Pub Group (together "the Pub Estate") from Nomura International plc.
The deal, with an enterprise value of £2,013m sees the equity consortium, which comprises Cinven, LGV and Princes Gate, investing £372m for a 83.2% stake in NewCo, a company used to purchase the Pub Estate. Enterprise, the leading publicly quoted operator of leased and tenanted pubs in the UK, has taken a 16.8% stake in NewCo. The Pub Estate consists of 4,189 pubs located throughout England, Scotland and Wales. The Pub Estate generates more than £220m of EBITDA.
The investors in NewCo have agreed a business plan which involves a merger of Unique and Voyager, and an acceleration of the lease conversion programme which was already underway within Voyager. It is anticipated that the Voyager estate will be securitised over the next six to twelve months.
Under the terms of a shareholder agreement, Enterprise has been granted a call option by the private equity consortium to purchase the balance of equity in NewCo subject to certain conditions.
The deal capitalises on LGV’s expertise in the pub sector and builds upon its experience in supporting trade partners.
