FDR Law advise pub chain on £17.9m sale
Warrington based pub group Bravo Inns has been acquired by the Hawthorn Leisure arm of property investment firm NewRiver REIT plc in a deal worth £17.9m, with FDR Law’s Corporate team advising on the sale.
Bravo Inns, which includes the local pubs Royal Oak Branch, Howley Hotel and Black Horse in its portfolio, has grown from just 5 pubs when formed in 2007 to 44 outlets across the North West. The group specialise in wet-led, operator managed, community pubs that will be merged into the Hawthorn Leisure brand.
Hawthorn Leisure operates over 650 leased, tenanted and managed community pubs across England, Scotland and Wales. Chief Executive of Hawthorn Leisure, Mark Davies commented:
“The UK pub sector has experienced a recent revival in transaction activity and, as an early investor into community pubs, we have been tracking the success of Bravo Inns for some time. The transaction will increase our portfolio weighting in community pubs and demonstrates the value of our Hawthorn Leisure platform in identifying acquisitions that can deliver higher yielding sustainable cashflows with scale driven synergies. A further attraction of this acquisition is the quality of the pub estate and the pub partners. We look forward to welcoming Bravo Inns and its pub partners to Hawthorn Leisure.”
The corporate team at FDR Law advised the sellers on the transaction with Head of Corporate, Margaret Evans commenting:
“We are delighted to have acted on this transaction for the sellers working alongside industry leaders in the pub sector and together with the wider advisory team to achieve a successful conclusion for all parties”