Punch Taverns surges on two takeover offers, one from Heineken

Shares in Punch Taverns rocketed on Wednesday after the pub operator confirmed it has received two takeover offers, one from Patron Capital Advisers on behalf of Dutch brewer Heineken and the other from Emerald Investment Partners.

Patron has offered 174p per share, while Emerald – a private equity firm founded by wealthy entrepreneur Alan McIntosh, who co-founded Punch – has offered 185p per share.

As part of Patron’s deal, Heineken would acquire Punch A, one of the two securitisation structures within the Punch group, from Patron immediately following completion of the offer.

Punch said it was in advanced discussions with Patron and Heineken and in discussions with Emerald.

“There can be no certainty that any firm offer will be made by either Patron or Emerald. A further announcement will be made in due course,” Punch said.

The statement followed a report earlier by Sky News that Heineken was involved in a secret takeover battle for the group.

Back in November, Punch said it swung to a pre-tax profit in the 52 weeks to 20 August.

The group reported pre-tax profit of £60m versus a loss of £105m the year before. However, underlying pre-tax profit fell to £53m from £61m and revenue declined to £406.8m from £420.8m.

Chief executive officer Duncan Garrood said at the time: “The business has ended the year with a solid set of results, in line with our expectations, and which reflects the completion of our strategic disposal programme.

At 1235 GMT, Punch shares were up 34% to 172.75p.