‘Time ladies and gentlemen please!’ is the call from Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), as it announces plans to offload the 900 pubs in its impressive commercial property portfolio.
Among those it is asking to pass back their empties and vacate the premises is the film director and ex-husband of Madonna, Guy Ritchie, who runs the Punchbowl in Mayfair.
RBS bought the estate in 2000, paying around £450m to Heineken-owned brewer Scottish and Newcastle (S&N), a deal which made the bank one of the biggest pub landlords in the country.
RBS’s move comes amid a recent upturn in pub sector trading activity by brewers. Greene King has bought a round of fourteen pubs in London for £53m from the Realpubs chain, and Young and Co. has given its credit card to Geronimo Inns, asking for it to be charged £60m for a tray of twenty-six pubs.
Propping up the commercial property bar is Sapient Corporate Finance, investment advisers to the leisure sector. They have reportedly been contracted by Young and Co. to sell some of its leasehold pubs and are rumoured to be the preferred choice of RBS for managing their real estate sale.
RBS themselves are in the spotlight again for all the wrong reasons as this now state-owned institution missed its lending targets for the first three months of the year; this is bound to overshadow their commercial property activities for some time.
Another operator seen huddled over a secluded table is Grand Union Group. Currently running eleven pubs, it is currently on a ‘roll-out mode’ of commercial property expansion, according to owners Adam Marshall and Adam Saword. It has been seen sharing peanuts with Cavendish Corporate Finance, appointing the financial advisers to initiate discussions with private equity groups over possible sale or investment, in order to progress to its stated aim of owning twenty sites.
Alongside steak, chips and dips, it seems commercial property is set to become a regular fixture on pub menus across the UK this year.
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