All Bar One operators to take on pub group Orchid
THE operator of All Bar One and Harvester is closing in on a £250million deal to buy pub group Orchid.
Mitchells & Butlers has beaten off competition from private equity firms Colony Capital and Starwood Capital as well as rival pub group Greene King to enter into exclusive talks with Orchid, whose brands include The Great British Carvery.
It said: “Discussions are ongoing and there can be no certainty that a transaction will be concluded.”
If M&B can secure 180 good quality units for just north of a million pounds each it could have a good deal
It is believed M&B, whose major shareholders are Tottenham Hotspur owner Joe Lewis and Irish racing tycoons JP McManus and John Magnier, will take on about 180 of Orchid’s 220 pubs with the rest handed over to administrators EY.
M&B is led by chief executive Alistair Darby, who joined in October 2012.
Mark Brumby, leisure analyst at Langton Capital, said: “This will be Darby’s first deal and quite a lot rests on it. Orchid has some good units but it has some bad ones as well and that’s clearly what’s behind the 180-40 split.
“It suggests if M&B can secure 180 good quality units for just north of a million pounds each it could have a good deal.” M&B shares rose 10p to 414¾p.
