Dusanj brothers table bid for Cains Beer Company

Brothers Sudarghara and Ajmail Dusanj have lodged a bid with the administrators of the collapsed Cains Beer Company to buy back the business, ThePublican.com​ understands.

Cains went into administration last month after its bank, HBoS, refused to back a management plan to turn the business round and support plans to pay off a large overdue tax bill.

However the Dusanj brothers could succeed in their bid to buy back the business if administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) were to be convinced the pair could run it as a going concern. Sudarghara Dusanj declined to comment when asked if he and his brother had tabled a offer to buy back Cains.

While an outstanding tax bill was a factor in Cains' demise, ironically the tax authorities might not see a penny of the outstanding demand, since they rank below secured creditors such as banks and employees, and unsecured creditors such as suppliers.

Meanwhile PwC began this week sifting through a number of serious bid proposals for the Liverpool brewer, which collapsed last month with debts believed to be more than £30m.

A potential headache for any buyer other than the Dusanjs is a clause in the lease covering the brewery itself.

The freehold for the brewery site is owned by a company connected to the Dusanj family and if the pair owns Cains or its successor company the rent paid to that business is understood to be £600,000. However if another brewer were to step in and buy Cains, the rent payable to the Dusanj-connected company rises more than 60 per cent to £1m.

As well as the Dusanj brothers, bidders for Cains include Isle of Arran Brewery owner Marketing Management Services International (MMSI).

MMSI managing director Gerald Michaluk told ThePublican.com​ he believed Cains was "potentially a hugely profitable business, if one can buy it at the right price".

PwC has already begun closing loss-making pubs across the Cains retail estate, with 24 being shuttered last week and 180 jobs lost. Some of the sites have been re-opened by the owners of the relevant pubs' freeholds, including Punch Taverns who have put in their own tenants.

Closing the pubs, PwC said it was not surprising that within the portfolio of 100-plus sites there were loss-making pubs which were unlikely to realise any value for the group's creditors. The phased closures, across the North West, began last week.

A PwC spokeswoman could not confirm how long the process to find a suitable buyer would take to complete, but said those interested in buying the company ranged from "well known names to private investors". It is understood that such discussions are likely to take a number of weeks.

As well as owning the freehold to the brewery, the family company connected to the Dusanj's also owns the 10 pubs that came with the Cains deal when it was sold to the pair six years ago.