Sir John Ritblat tipped to buy back Merchant Inns

Published 06th Nov 2009

Ex-British Land chairman tipped to regain control of Merchant Inns less than a month after its fall into administration


Sir John Ritblat, the former chairman of British Land, is tipped to regain control of Merchant Inns, his fledgling pub chain, less than a month after its collapse into administration.

The chain of seven inns — set up two years ago as a joint venture between Sir John and Robert Breare, the leisure entrepreneur — fell into the hands of administrators from Deloitte after “the discovery of a number of previously unknown financial liabilities”.

Both Delancey, a Ritblat family property vehicle, and Mr Breare are expected to make bids, with analysts predicting a price of £20 million to £25 million. Bidders have until 5pm tomorrow to lodge offers.

However, some would-be bidders have expressed concern over both the short timetable and the limited amount of information made available by Deloitte to Colliers Robert Barry, the agent appointed by find buyers.

Ted Kennedy, the chairman and founder of Pebble Hotels, who is among the parties to have run a sliderule over Merchant Inns, said: “It is a very tight deadline.”

Some putative bidders have also raised an eyebrow at the decision by Deloitte to employ Colliers Robert Barry to handle the sale process. The agency is part of Colliers CRE, the publicly quoted property consultancy where Sir John is chairman.

There is also uncertainty over the nature of the financial liabilities that sparked the administration. One prospective bidder said: “The trading figures we’re being given paint a mixed picture, yet until recently trading appeared to be very strong.”

Sir John, who could not be reached for comment, teamed up with Mr Breare in October 2007 to buy Merchant when it had five outlets. The men each put in £1 million of equity, with Coutts providing £13 million of debt and Sir John providing about £13 million in mezzanine funding.

Their stated aim was to invest as much as £200 million expanding Merchant Inns through acquisition, but the two men parted company in August after what one source has described as “the mother of all arguments” over strategy.

Some analysts have suggested that Sir John's status as a mezzanine debt holder gives a strong hand in the auction process.

Neville Kahn, one of the joint administrators, insisted that he was conducting “a valid arm’s length administration aimed at getting the best possible price for the business”.

He said that Colliers Robert Barry had been selected as agents “because they were the best people to handle this” but added that he had also commissioned an independent valuation from Christie & Co, a rival property firm.

Mr Kahn said he was expecting “quite a number of third party bids” by the deadline, but that if anyone felt they needed more time to formulate an offer they should contact him by the end of tomorrow. “This is a flexible process,” he said.

He said the nature of the unknown financial liabilities was “still under review”.

Source: ' Times '

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