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 | | Sunday, 16 December, 2001, 14:39 GMT Pubmaster raises glass to major deal  Pubmaster bought 33 pubs in Scotland in August Teesside pubs group Pubmaster says it is close to closing a �500m deal for the Inn Partnership estate run by Japanese bank Nomura. The Hartlepool-based group is hoping to seal the acquisition as early as Tuesday after rivals pulled out of the bidding. The deal would make the privately listed North East company one of the largest pub operators in the UK, moving to third alongside Enterprise Inns. Pubmaster runs 2,000 tenanted pubs - Inn Partnership would add another 1,250 sites to its estate and increase its reach in the South East.
Chief executive John Sands confirmed Pubmaster's interest and said landing Inn Partnership would be a "quantum leap" for his business. Pubmaster narrowly missed out on regional brewer Wolverhampton & Dudley in August with a �485m hostile takeover bid. It received support from investors holding 47% of Wolves' shares, just a handful short of the amount needed to gain control of the company. In August, the company bought 21 pubs from Edinburg-based Solitaire Leisure Ltd. 'Funds ready' The deal, valued at �5m, brought the number of Pubmaster-owned outlets in Scotland to 33. Mr Sands said: "We have put forward a full offer which we believe will be accepted by Nomura. "We want to put clear blue water between where the group is today and our unsuccessful bid for Wolves. "A deal of this size would do exactly that."
A company spokesman said talks would continue on Monday in a bid to conclude the deal as quickly as possible. He told BBC News Online: "We have put forward an offer in the region of �500m, which we think is very reasonable. "We have the funding in place. We know they have set a maximum time of one month to have the cash to them, and we can achieve that." Inn Partnership was bought by Nomura from Greenalls for �375m in January 1999. A sale would be the last Nomura deal masterminded by Guy Hands, the head of Nomura's Principal Finance Group who is leaving to set up his own firm. His two previous significant sales were the William Hill chain of bookmakers and the Porterbrook train leasing business. The sale would leave Nomura with two other pub businesses, the Unique and Voyager pub companies, which will likely be merged. It is understood a rival bid for Inn Enterprise from Laurel, owner of the old Whitbread estate, was withdrawn on Friday afternoon. Other prospective buyers are believed to have included Enterprise Inns, Legal & General Ventures and Punch Group. | | See also:  Internet links: The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites Top England stories now:  Links to more England stories are at the foot of the page. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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