What the Sunday papers said - 10 February
The Sunday Telegraph
Nomura and Deutsche Bank are working on plans to launch two of the biggest ever pub-backed bond issues which together will be worth more than £2bn. Nomura is planning the securitisation of Voyager, the pub company it bought from Six Continents for £625m, 12 months ago.
At the same time Deutsche Bank, ultimate parent of the Laurel Pub Company, is planning to raise up to £1.4bn against the pub estate it bought from Whitbread last year. Read how the news was first revealed on thePublican.com...
Meanwhile, Lehman Brothers, the US investment bank, is in talks to take a stake in Pubmaster, the country's fourth largest pub company which is valued at up to £1bn. It is thought Lehmans is interested in acquiring a 10 per cent stake. Pubmaster is majority owned by WestLB, the German bank. Pubmaster completed the acquisition of Inn Partnership last week. Read more about Pubmaster's acquisition of Inn Partnership on thePublican.com...
David Bruce and Clive Watson, founders of The Capital Pub Company, are preparing to list the company on AIM at an expected value of £25m. It will follow the company's second round of fund raising. The company hopes to raise £8.8m this time, further to the £7.8m it raised through an enterprise investment scheme (EIS) last year.
Matthew Freud, the public relations consultant, is in talks with Whitbread to buy Curzons, the 12-strong chain of health and fitness clubs located in central London for an estimated £12m.
In an interview with leisure correspondant Damian Reece, Karen Jones, the chief executive of Spirit Group, the renamed retail business belonging to the Punch Group, talks about her future plans for the company, namely a £500m stock market flotation next year. She says trying to enthuse the group's 16,000 workers is her biggest challenge. She identifies Mr Q's, Two For One and Bar Room Bar as three strong growth drivers in the Spirit estate. Read more about Punch Retail's new identity on thePublican.com...
The Observer
Karen Jones has been a busy bee - not only did she oversee the new name launch for her Spirit Group last week, she also courted not one, but two of the Sunday titles. In another wide-ranging profile, she says that the absolute biggest thrill is walking into one of her pubs and seeing it packed full of people, having a fantastic time. Well, its almost the biggest thrill - she admits it's not quite as good as sex, and not even close to the buzz she gets from raising her three children.
The Weekend FT
New laws designed to crack down on alcohol-related disorder are starting to bite. Councils from Wigan in the north to Eastbourne in the south are poised to use the 2001 Criminal Justice and Police Act to ban street drinking. Westminster city council is also one of many authorities that plan to establish alcohol-free zones, where police can confiscate open alcoholic beverages and fine any drinkers that refuse.
The government faces the possibility of a revolt from within the police force over plans to relax its policy on the recreational drug, cannabis.
The Business
Serious Fraud Office prosecutors will return to court this week as the "Guinness Four" seek permission to take the appeal against their convictions to the House of Lords. They were convicted for their roles in the £2.6bn takeover of the Distillers Group in 1985.
The Sunday Times
Thousands of City and Wall Street workers are expected to lose their jobs amid fears that the first quarter of 2002 may be the worst in years. Investment bankers report that almost every area of business is experiencing a severe slowdown.
Two drinkers were shot dead and third was fighting for his life after an apparent revenge attack at the Good Companions pub in Hamsey Green, Surrey, on Saturday night. It followed an earlier argument between two groups of men at the White Lion pub in nearby Warlingham.
The Sunday Express
Dutch hotel operator Golden Tulip Worldwide, one of Europe's largest hotel franchise operators, with 30,000 rooms in 300 hotels in 49 countries, is set to spend £200m on 30 locations across Britain and Ireland. The move would indicate the tourist industry is regaining confidence since the September 11 terrorist attacks in America.
The Independent On Sunday
No industry-related news
The Mail on Sunday
No industry related news
