Fri, 24 Oct 2014 | MERGER
Irish drinks maker C&C has made a move to wrangle Greene King’s arrangement to purchase pub operator Spirit with a higher offer.
The 1,200-pub operator Spirit passed up C&C’s 115p per share offer last month, which would give Spirit a value of £760 million, higher than Greene King’s 113.5p per share offer, representing a £750 million valuation.
Dublin-based C&C, maker of Bulmers and Tennent’s lager, wants to use Spirit’s pubs to bolster sales of its drinks brands. It currently doesn’t have any of its own pubs in Britain or Ireland and would aim to use “vertical integration” to grow its drinks sales in venues.
The pub operator’s board members have queried the possible synergies between C&C and Spirit, however.
Greene King has 1,900 pubs, of which 1,000 are retail pubs and restaurants including the Loch Fyne and Hungry Horse chains. It also brews Old Speckled Hen and Abbot Ale.
In abiding by the UK takeover code, C&C has a deadline of 5pm on 20 November to make a serious bid or abandon its pursuit. While Greene King must meet a deadline of 30 October for its final offer, this can be extended if Spirit agrees however.
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