Tue 29th Oct 2013 - Stonegate owner eyes Bramwell Pub Company estate Stonegate owner eyes Bramwell Pub Company estate: Stonegate Pub Company, the UK’s largest privately owned pub company, is rumoured to be in talks to acquire a large portion of the 180-strong Bramwell Pub Company. Stonegate, which is owned by TDR Capital, is understood to be interested in acquiring the best parts of the Bramwell estate, which is leasehold. One source suggested a deal could be a matter of a few days away. In August, Stonegate's chairman, Ian Payne, told Propel that the company's backer, the private equity firm TDR Capital, has funding in place to grow the business further, and the company wais looking at every package of pub sites that comes on the market. Stonegate has grown to 573 sites after the acquisition in August of the 13-strong Living Room brand. Payne told Propel at the time: “We’ve looked at every single deal on the market in depth, and we will continue to do that. We have the finance in place to grow, although we’ve never had a numerical target: it is about acquiring the right quality. The Living Room brand is a business I’ve known since Tim Bacon set it up, and we looked at it when it came in to the market in 2007. We think it’s got some of the best sites in the UK and it’s been trading very well under its various operators. It’s the brand’s sites and people that we really wanted.” Bramwell, which is led by Roger Moxham and chaired by Mitchells & Butlers' former chief executive, Adam Fowle, emerged from the administration of Barracuda Pub Company in October 2012. The company was split into an operating company (opco) and property company (propco). It benefited from a credit facility of £10m from its new backer, Varde Partners. At the time of the restructure, 18 sites were returned to landlords. The current Stonegate interest is understood to focus on the top-performing part of the estate, in a deal that would jettison underperforming sites. Meanwhile, a major initiative at Bramwell this year has been a trial of a new "aspirational" brand, the Wild Lime Bar & Kitchen format. The company launched its first Wild Lime Bar & Kitchen in early summer in Southampton and opened further trial sites in Banbury in July and Reading in August. Moxham told Propel in the early summer: “We have big, capable competition in JD Wetherspoon, which is now doing both late-night and sport, which means our traditional position has come under pressure. There is a second set of customers who are looking for more than value. Value is very important to them but they also want innovation. There are a half a dozen businesses in the sector looking at variants of this: Pitcher & Piano, Loungers and Be At One, for example. The high street market is starting to re-energise itself with innovation. We have identified 100 sites in Bramwell that are suitable for Wild Lime and the sensible capital budget [for these sites] gives us the confidence to start talking about 100 potential sites.” Moxham said that the big prize was the potential of "spectacular returns" on investment if Wild Lime Bar succeeds, as opposed to the "great returns" the company was achieving with less ambitious renewal investments. A spokesman for Stonegate declined to comment on the situation.