Many in the European securitization market could be forgiven for not being keen to invest further in the UK pub sector given the performance of some transactions of late (see Punch drunk: Battered ABS bondholders face knockout blow, Euromoney March 2011). However, over lunch last month a securization market stalwart revealed to Euromoney that he had decided to take a different tack in approaching the sector. Rather than taking a punt on some Punch triple-Bs he has decided to really take on some risky exposure, by buying the freehold on his local village pub. Not dissuaded by doom-laden forecasts about the impact of the smoking ban and cheap supermarket booze, this banker is going to get down and dirty and show the industry how it should be done. His modus operandi is clear. “Keep it simple,” he explains. “The food will be good, honest pub food – nothing drizzled.” A metaphor for the securitization industry itself in these straitened times perhaps?