RedCat continues expansion with destination pub acquisition
The Morning Advertiser understands RedCat acquired the Turks Head in Hasketon, Suffolk this month (November), for an undisclosed sum, taking the estate to 77.
At the beginning of 2021, Rooney Anand raised £200m to invest in Britain’s pub sector, Sky News reported. At that time, it was expected the former Greene King boss was to embark on a series of acquisitions with the backing of an unnamed US-based private equity firm.
The Telegraph revealed American financing business Oaktree was providing the finances behind RedCat in February.
Just a month later (March), RedCat made its first acquisition with 42 pubs from Stonegate. The sites were spread across the country with the majority (25) in the south east, 11 in the north of England, two in the Midlands and four in Wales.
The package is a combination of 14 managed pubs and 28 tenanted with half of the managed sites in London.
Acquisition plan
Then, RedCat said it was looking to acquire further sites in the retail and tenanted sector. It stated its approach was flexible and size agnostic, meaning it is able to acquire single pubs up to large scale businesses and pub companies.
“The announcement is the first step in our plan to build a differentiated pub company and the acquisition of these pubs gets RedCat off to an excellent start," Anand said.
“This will help us to serve the local community and add value to the neighbourhoods we invest in, as we play our part in rebuilding the sector.
This was followed by the New Dungeon Ghyll in Great Langdale in the summer (August). This deal represented the private equity-backed firm’s first foray into the Lake District and the latest in a succession of off-market deals brokered in the region by Colliers Hotels specialists.
The pub is in Great Langdale on a site of about 12 acres, which includes mature gardens and pastures, a large extensive outdoor seating area and car park.
It is a traditionally constructed detached stone property with a slate roof and was originally a farmhouse before being converted in 1832. It also currently features 23 en-suite bedrooms alongside public areas with restaurant, bars and lounges.
Previous deals
Just a week later, it was announced the company was set to acquire The Coaching Inn Group for a rumoured £50m.
The latter operated 18 coaching inns across the UK and the acquired sites are mainly in historic market towns in areas such as the Cotswolds, Peak District, Leicestershire, Staffordshire and Cambridgeshire.
The Coaching Inn Group was founded by CEO Kevin Charity in 1996 and went on to secure investment from BGF in 2015 before it executed a growth strategy that included acquiring more than 10 sites in the past six years.
RedCat’s acquisition trail continued with the purchase of the Saint Arnold pub group, which included the Five Bells in Colne Engaine and the Lion in Earls Colne.
The group, which originally had four pubs, including the Griffin in Halstead and the Three Horseshoes at Fordham, had been up for sale before the pandemic hit and was owned by Darran and Caroline Lingley.
