Enterprise Inns to auction more pubs

Enterprise Inns is looking to ease its £1 billion debt with the auction of eight London pubs.

The company hopes to raise £12.6 million through the auction, which is set to take place on 10 March and was organised through commercial property agents Cushman & Wakefield.

The pubs in question will then be rented back to Enterprise Inns on a 35-year lease.

Last week the pub chain raised roughly £10m when it sold and leased back seven pubs through auctioneers Allsop.

Enterprise began auctioning off its pubs in late 2009 in a bid to raise money to help pay off some of the group’s extensive debts.

Enterprise is thought to have raised £35m to £40m with such sales so far and Ted Tuppen, the pubco’s chief executive believes that up to 200 pubs could be sold in such a way and still allow them to afford the rent bill.

The latest pubs to be auctioned are:

The Princess of Shoreditch, Old Street
Molly Moggs, Old Compton Street
So-Bar, Fulham Road
Ealing Park Tavern, South Ealing Road
The Sun, Drury Lane
The Hope, Bloomsbury
The Three Kings, Clerkenwell Close
Halfway House, Barnes

Rupert Millar, 23.02.2010