January 2006
Acquisition financing: Punch wins Spirit
by Alex Chambers & Mark Brown
UK public house chain Punch Taverns bought rival Spirit for £2.68 billion ($4.75 billion) in December in a deal financed by Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and RBS. The sale followed an auction involving Robert Tchenguiz’s investment vehicle R20, the Macquarie Group, Robin Saunders’ Clearbrook Capital Partners and the Barclay brothers.
But the highest bidder did not win. Tchenguiz bid about £2.8 billion for Spirit, which comprises some 1,800 pubs. However, Punch’s bid was fully financed so Spirit’s private equity owners, Texas Pacific Group, CVC and...
