Punch Taverns has said that it has finalized the sale of 138 non-core pubs, raising £53.5 million as the group moves to strengthen its estate and reduce its debt.
The pubs, 150 of which are from the non-core estate and 8 of which were in the core estate but are now deemed to be non-core, will be sold to NewRiver on September 11th.
Punch said that the disposal at an average of approximately £340,000 per pub, is above book value and significantly ahead of the average proceeds achieved for previous non-core disposals.
Duncan Garrood, CEO of Punch Taverns plc, commented: "This transaction is in line with our stated strategy of disposing pubs within the non-core estate, reducing the overall level of our debt, whilst focusing on our higher quality core pub estate.”
