JW Lees buys 10 pubs from Punch Taverns

Manchester brewer and pub operator JW Lees has bought 10 freehold pubs from Punch Taverns, the largest single acquisition by the group for more than a century.

The pubs - six managed sites and four tenanted - are all based in and around the North West of England.

The acquisition, for an undisclosed sum, was paid for in cash via a new facility from the Royal Bank of Scotland and will complete on May 13, 2009.

The deal takes JW Lees' managed estate to 35 and its tenanted operation to 138 pubs.

"These are pubs we've have known for a number of years," said JW Lees' managing director William Lees-Jones.

The brewer approached Punch, Lees-Jones said, "when it was obvious they were up for selling pubs".

Lees-Jones agreed that negotiations with Punch's advisers, Sapient Finance, had been "robust", but said that once the deal had been agreed "they couldn't have been more professional".

Staff in the six managed pubs would be kept on, Lees-Jones said. "We want to invest in these businesses and this is a great opportunity for all concerned."

The managed sites would be de-branded once the acquisition completed next week, he added.

Lees-Jones said the brewer would honour Punch's leases in the other four sites, but that "in the fullness of time we would like to convert these to JW Lees' tenancies".