Payne set for Stonegate non-exec chair role
Industry veteran Ian Payne is set to become the new non-executive chairman of Stonegate Pub Company, which acquired 333 wet-led pubs from Mitchells & Butlers (M&B) last week.
Payne, who is currently non-executive chairman of Bay Restaurants and Town & City Pub Company, is understood to have been working on the M&B deal since March with Stonegate's backer TDR Capital.
The deal will not see completion until mid-November and one of Payne's first jobs will be to choose Stonegate Capital's first chief executive.
There is industry speculation as to whether Payne will continue as non-executive chairman of Town & City Pubs, which runs the Yates chain, on account of the degree of direct competition between the company and Stonegate's estate.
TDR Capital is a private equity firm based in London and founded in 2002 — it currently manages funds worth €2.6 billion.
The 333 M&B pubs include 52 Scream bars, 71 Bar and Venues, 75 Town pubs, 67 community pubs and 68 other small pubs.
Average weekly takings per pub are around £13,800 per week. Sources close to TDR Capital have indicated that it hopes to use the M&B deal as a base for further industry consolidation.
Industry sources indicate that Payne will try to acquire the Town & City Pub Company business — the other pub group he chairs — from its current owners Kaupthing and Commerzbank, to form a business that, with close to 600 outlets, would have a high street presence second only to JD Wetherspoon.
