Ridley's brewery faces axe in wake of GK's £46m takeover

Related tags Greene king Bury st edmunds Public house

by MA Reporter Another of Britain's remaining regional family brewers is to close after Greene King purchased TD Ridley & Sons of Essex this...

by MA Reporter

Another of Britain's remaining regional family brewers is to close after Greene King purchased TD Ridley & Sons of Essex this week.

The deal cost £45.6m, including £8.8m in debt, to be paid in cash and financed from existing debt facilities.

Ridley's brewery at Hartford End, near Chelmsford, will be closed in the next few months. The brewing of 'a number of Ridley's brands, and the management of its 73 tenanted pubs, will be transferred to Greene King's operations in Bury St Edmunds.

The purchase takes Greene King's estate to 2,137 pubs.

TD Ridley chairman Nicholas Ridley said the board believed Ridley's 'needs to become part of a larger group. 'We view Greene King as the best owner to develop our business for the future.

Greene King chief executive Rooney Anand said: 'Ridley's has a high-quality pub estate, some popular ale brands and a sound local free-trade business. The business is ideally located in a strongly-developing part of the country, which is close to the centre of our operations.

Greg Feehely, leisure analyst at the City firm Altium Securities, said: 'It's a nice little incremental deal, and goes to show that despite what some people say there are still loads of potential deals out there.

'Rooney Anand has only just taken over the helm at Greene King, and I'd expect quite a bit more steady progress to be made with more acquisitions the company is very good at successfully integrating its purchases.

The Campaign for Real Ale, however, called for a Competition Commission investigation into the deal, which follows Wolver-hampton & Dudley's takeover of Jennings in June.

'A new generation of national brewers has been created and is a threat to consumer choice, said Camra chief executive Mike Benner.

Benner said Camra would press Greene King to reverse its decision to close the Essex brewery and instead try to sell it as a going concern.

Greene King said it expected to achieve synergies of £3.5m a year in the first full year after the acquisition.

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