Pub giants Greene King agree £774m Spirit takeover

The acquisition of Chef & Brewer owner Spirit Pub Company by Greene King will create a firm with more than 3,000 managed and leased pubs.

Spirit’s board is recommending its shareholders back the offer, despite late interest from Magners owner C&C.

Greene King will hand Spirit a 29 per cent stake in the combined company.

Spirit has an estate of 794 managed pubs including the brands Fayre & Square, Flaming Grill, Taylor Walker and John Barras. There are also 433 pubs in its leased estate.

Greene King chief executive Rooney Anand said the acquisition was a key step towards building the “best pubs and beer business” in the UK.

There are currently more than 1,000 pubs in Greene King’s managed estate, including those under the brands Hungry Horse, Old English Inns and Loch Fyne Seafood & Grill. It has about 900 sites in its leased Pub Partners estate. The company’s breweries produce Old Speckled Hen, Abbot Ale and Greene King IPA.

The company employs more than 23,500, people while Burton upon Trent-based Spirit has 17,000 staff.

The merger is expected to generate £30 million a year of cost savings from areas such as overlapping corporate and support functions.