Wizard buys 20 Regent pubs in £28m deal
Wizard Inns, the fast-growing managed pub business run by Chris Hutt, has bought 20 pubs from Regent Inns in a £27.9m deal.
The acquisition takes the Nomura-backed Wizard estate up to 69 pubs.
The deal comprises 15 sites in and around London with the other five located in Bedford, Hereford, Ipswich, Taunton and Walsall.
Regent Inns has been slowly disposing of its unbranded estate. The 20 pubs no longer fitted into the company's plans.
Unbranded pubs is the founding principle of Wizard. "All the pubs and bars currently trade as unbranded units - our core business," said managing director Chris Hutt.
"They are quality sites at the top of the scale in terms of potential sales and beer volumes.
"We are very pleased we got them."
The Wizard boss said the average sales of the new acquisitions exceeded that of the current estate.
All existing pub managers and staff will transfer to Wizard.
In March, Wizard announced it had built a £25m warchest through Nomura and Royal Bank of Scotland to fund expansion.
The company has grown sales from £4.4m to £20m in the last four years.
Related articles:
Wizard Inns opens £25m war-chest (22 April 2002)
