Tennent’s owner C&C in £37m deal for minority stake in pubs chain Admiral

● Drinks group to take 47 per cent of Chester-based firm which runs 845 sites

Irish drinks firm C&C, which owns Tennent’s lager and Magners cider, has inked a deal to acquire pub chain Admiral Taverns alongside Proprium Capital Partners in a £220 million deal.

As part of the transaction, C&C will take 47 per cent of Chester-based Admiral while Proprium, a property firm, will take a slightly higher stake.

The remainder will be held by Admiral’s management team, led by chief executive Kevin Georgel. The deal contains both debt and equity and C&C is pumping £37m in for its holding.

Admiral, which is being sold by hedge fund Cerberus, operates 845 pubs in Britain and raked in £25.2m in earnings last year.

The deal will give C&C a direct route to market “without taking significant financial and operational risk”, its boss Stephen Glancey said.

He added: “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.”

Georgel said: “Our strategy remains unapologetically consistent and I look forward to working with the support of our new investors to continue to build on the significant progress the business has made over the last five years and take advantage of the opportunities within our markets, as and when they arise.”

The acquisition is the latest move by a drinks firm to seize control of a pubs group.

In December, Heineken snapped up Punch Taverns alongside private equity firm Patron Capital in a controversial £403m deal.

The Scottish Licensed Trade Association (SLTA) was a vocal opponent of that takeover, warning of higher prices for consumers and landlords, job losses and pub closures.

In August Britain’s competition watchdog accepted proposals by Heineken to offload pubs in 33 areas to satisfy concerns over the takeover.

The Competition & Markets Authority had said in June that the deal could impact competition and see drinkers face higher prices but before the merger was referred for a further in-depth investigation, the companies were given the opportunity to offer proposals to address concerns.

SLTA chief executive Paul Waterson had said that the offer to sell venues did not address members’ concerns.