Wed 12th Jul 2017 - Sky – Patron Capital among suitors for Admiral Taverns Sky – Patron Capital among suitors for Admiral Taverns: A number of buyers have approached Admiral Taverns with unsolicited offers to buy the business from its owner Cerberus. Sky News has suggested one of the suitors is Patron Capital, the private equity firm that has agreed to buy 1,400 pubs owned by Punch. Sky stated: “Patron’s interest is notable because it is close to concluding a joint takeover with Heineken of Punch, which has a portfolio of more than 3,300 pubs. Under the plans, Heineken would control 1,900 of the sites, with Patron owning the remainder. If completed, the deal would make Heineken the third-biggest pub operator in Britain behind Greene King and Enterprise Inns. However, competition regulators have expressed concerns about the Dutch brewer’s proposed acquisition, prompting it to offer to sell pubs in 33 areas across the UK in order to avoid a more detailed probe. Patron’s interest in Punch has not aroused similar concerns because it does not already control a significant chunk of the UK pubs sector. Sources indicated that Patron, which owns several independent businesses in the hotels industry in Britain, would not necessarily seek to combine Admiral with the Punch business it is trying to acquire. Admiral, which owns an estate of about 1,000 ‘wet-led’ pubs, has been owned by Cerberus since the beginning of 2013, when it was sold by Lloyds Banking Group.” Admiral Taverns turnover was up 1.7% to £69.5m in the year to 28 May 2016, compared with £68.4m in 2015. Underlying Ebitda was up 1.3% to £25.2m (2015: £24.9m), while underlying profit after tax was up 11.7% to £12.8m (2015: £11.5m). Like-for-like income and Ebitda for Admiral’s retained estate were both up 1.3%. Admiral acquired 111 pubs from Star Pubs & Bars in October 2014, with those pubs generating double-digit Ebitda growth in the second half of the financial year (immediately following the first anniversary of Admiral’s ownership) driven by investment and the development of effective working relationships with our new licensees, the company said.