Heineken to sell off 100 UK pubs
HEINEKEN is considering plans to sell around 100 of its UK pubs, up to 10 per cent of its British pub estate.
The Dutch brewer is understood to be in the earliest stages of talks to dispose of the poorest performing pubs in its portfolio.
“We currently have around 1,250 pubs in our estate, but there are a small number that do not fit our desired profile going forward,” a Heineken spokesperson said.
“We already have some of these for up for sale on an individual basis and, as would be expected, we keep our disposals strategy under regular review. As matters stand today, we have not made any decisions other than the disposals already in place.”
Heineken amassed its pub estate following its 2008 £7.8bn joint acquisition of Scottish & Newcastle, the UK brewer of Foster’s and Kronenbourg, which turned the company into one of Britain’s biggest pub landlords.
A number of major British pub chains have been selling off pubs in recent months. Marston’s sold 202 pubs in November for £90m to New River Retail as part of efforts to reduce debt and help pay for its new pub-restaurants.
Enterprise Inns said in February that it expects to raise £70m from disposals this year.