Fri 31st Jan 2014 - Breaking News - Cerberus acquires 32 Punch pubs from Prestbury Prestbury sells 32 Punch pubs to Cerberus: Property firm Prestbury Holdings has sold 32 Punch Taverns pubs to the US-based private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management. The value of the deal is not known but likely to be above £40m. The second acquisition of a batch of Prestbury pubs by Cerberus – it acquired 102 Spirit pubs owned by Prestbury last week for £170m – means the US private equity firm has invested around £200m on British pubs in the past week. The £200m spend comes after the acquisition of Lloyds Bank's stake in Admiral Taverns at the start of 2013 for £200m, bringing Cerberus's total investment in the pub sector to around £400m. The purchase takes the total number of pubs owned by Cerberus to above 1,300, including the 1,200-strong Admiral Taverns estate. Property Week has reported that Blackstone and Patron Capital were among those that showed an interest in the Prestbury portfolio. The group of Spirit and Punch pubs was originally sold on a sale-and-leaseback in 2004. According to Property Week, Cerberus will earn a yield of around 9% on the investment. CBRE advised Prestbury Holdings and Sapient Corporate Finance advised Cerberus. Eataly looks at London opening in 2016: The foodservice phenomenon Eataly is in discussions with the family behind Selfridges about bringing its concept to the UK, according to the London Evening Standard. Eataly has 26 branches globally, including a Manhattan site described by the New York Times as a “retail love letter to Italy”. Eataly, whose US version is overseen by Mario Batali, Joe Bastianich and Lidia Bastianich, most recently opened in East Ohio Avenue, Chicago in December. There are eight restaurants, retail counters for meat, fish, pasta, cheese, pastry and cured meat, two coffee bars, a Nutella counter, a microbrewery, a bookstore and a gelateria. The 63,000 square feet Chicago outlet is 13,000 sq ft bigger than the New York version and includes a meat-focused casual restaurant where you can get steak, sausages and grilled chicken. Chicago Eataly attracted 80,000 visitors in its first week and the New York version is supposed to be the fourth most-visited tourist attraction in the city. An Eataly spokeswoman said it was “looking at a possible opening in London in the 2016 time frame” but would not comment further. Selfridges’ Canadian owner, Galen Weston, and daughter Alannah, who is creative director at the retailer, have been working up plans with the property developer Stanhope to expand the department store. The group would not comment on Eataly.