Admiral Taverns has been acquired by Tennent’s owner C&C in partnership with Proprium Capital Partners and Admiral’s management team. The value of the deal to buy the company, which has 845 pubs in its estate (mainly in England and Wales), has not been revealed but C&C has revealed it made an equity investment of £37m for 47% of the issued capital with Admiral now be accounted for as an associate of C&C. The remaining equity is provided by Proprium Capital Partners and Admiral management.
The deal will give the brewer a significant slice of the market in England with the investment delivering, say the company, “significant economic and route-to-market benefit to its GB businesses.”
Commenting on the investment, Stephen Glancey, C&C CEO, said, “The local pub remains at the heart of many suburban and city communities – often the hub of local activity and their economic and social contribution is immeasurable. C&C has a long and successful track-record of supplying and providing financial support to local pubs within the independent free-trade in Scotland and Ireland.
“In the UK, the tenanted pub model is a key component of the pub industry. When well invested, and with the right operator and product range, it can provide excellent sustainable returns to all participants.”
He concluded, “For C&C, this is an attractive opportunity to create a new long term investment in the important on-trade channel, without taking significant financial and operational risk. The investment will provide our brands with improved distribution in some of the best community pubs across the UK, with an opportunity to enhance on-trade penetration further over time.”
In Admiral’s latest audited accounts for the 52 weeks ended 28 May 2016, the group had underlying EBITDA of £25.2 million and an underlying EBITDA margin of 36.2%. As at 28 May 2016, the gross assets of the Admiral business were £231.8m and the gross property assets were valued at £244.3m.
The transaction is subject to FCA approval only and is expected to complete by the end of November 2017.