Pubfolio sale withdrawn

A package of 340 tenanted Pubfolio pubs has been withdrawn from the market after bidders failed to meet the £100m asking price, according to reports.

Many of the pubs, which are managed by County Estate Management, have been turned free-of-tie in recent years with as much as 60% of the estate now trading on temporary management arrangements.

It is understood that Ad-miral Taverns, Alternative Asset Investment Manage-ment, InnDeed Group and London Town all looked at the package, but, for different reasons were unable or unwilling to meet the asking price. One industry source complained that the asking was at least £5m too high given the quality of the pubs.

The £100m asking price would suggest the pubs are of a similar quality as the Marston's package with freehold values just below £300,000 and earnings of just over £25,000 each.

Meanwhile, Pubfolio is selling a smaller package of 100 pubs through Fleurets on a small group or individual basis, with around £40m expected to be raised.

Another Pubfolio package

of 27 freehold pubs is on the market through Christie+Co with a total asking price be-lieved to be in excess of £6.5m.

Pubfolio's estate was originally bought from Punch Tav-

erns in January 2005 in a sell-on from the 800-pub estate of the InnSpired Group that Punch bought in September 2004 for £165m. Pubfolio is owned by coat-hanger magnate Peter Shalson.

The MA newdesk received a number of calls last year from Pubfolio tenants whose pubs had been turned free-of-tie and who were struggling to pay their rent as a result.