Enterprise Inns raises £12m at pub auction

Enterprise Inns has sold seven London freehold pubs today for around £12m.

The tenanted operator sold the pubs at an Allsops auction today offering a sale-and-leaseback deal.

As in previous auctions, Enterprise offered prospective freehold investors a 35-year lease with an option for Enterprise to break at 25 years subject to six months' notice.

The Northumberland Arms on King's Cross Road was withdrawn prior to the auction, while the Metropolitan in Westbourne Park (let to Realpubs) was sold prior to the auction for an undisclosed sum of a guide price of £1.8-£1.9m.

The six pubs sold at auction were:

• The Cumberland Arms, Hammersmith for £1.68m (rent of £100,000 a year with the pub let to Purple Tiger Pub Company)

• The Lillie Langtry, Fulham for £1.46m (rent of £95,000 a year with the pub let to MJ Conway)

• Round Midnight, Islington for £1.41m (rent of £80,000 per annum with the pub let to Nervous Tension Venues)

• The Nellie Dean, Soho for £2.1m (rent of £155,000 per annum with pub let to Fleetcross)

• Northumberland Arms, Tottenham for £2.13m Court Road (rent of £125,000 per annum with the pub let to Faucet Inn Pub Company)

• Smugglers Taverns, Marylebone for £1.37m (rent of £95,000 per annum with the pub let to Davent Pub Company)

Enterprise has stated that it might raise as much as £200m through the public auction route — it has now raised around £47m.

Enterprise's freeholds are proving attractive to high net worth individuals who currently receive very low rates of interest from banks and building societies.

Chief executive Ted Tuppen has argued that the public auction strategy does not amount to selling the pubs because the company retains an operational interest.

He has pointed that in mid-2009 Enterprise had a very low rent roll of around £1.6m and could easily increase this to around £14m without undermining the strength of its balance sheet.