UK: Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries acquires Celtic Inns for GBP 43.6 mln
Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries PLC (W&D) announced on March 20 it has acquired Celtic Inns Holdings Ltd for GBP 43.6 mln on a debt and cash free basis from Dunedin Capital Partners, Dr Ainsworth and existing management and employees of Celtic. In such a way W&D has strengthened its hand in South Wales.
The purchase price is understood to have included about £23m of debt - suggesting the four-man board of Celtic and its 20 or so employees will share about £11m of the roughly £20m of equity value realised.
Wolverhampton & Dudley said it expects the acquisition to generate annual purchasing synergies of GBP 0.2 mln. The total amount payable for Celtic is subject to an adjustment based on net working capital at completion.
Wolverhampton & Dudley said it paid for most of the purchase in cash from existing bank facilities with certain employee shareholders receiving loan notes.
The deal was the second big cash realisation in eight days for Dunedin, following on from the sale of its stake in Letts Filofax group. Dunedin said it had invested £3.5m in Celtic Inns for a 30 per cent stake, and that the proceeds represented an investment return ratio of 101 per cent over 18 months.
Celtic was set up in March 2002 by managing director Duncan Murray and operations director Clive Williams. In 2004 it secured new backing from venture capitalist Sand Aire Private Equity (subsequently acquired by Dunedin Capital Partners) to fuel expansion.
The Celtic estate has 70 community pubs based predominantly in South Wales including 21 in Southern England. The estate, of which approximately three quarters is freehold, comprises 63 tenanted outlets and seven managed houses. W&D chief executive Ralph Findlay said: “Celtic has a good quality estate which complements our existing business both operationally and geographically.”
Duncan Murray, managing director of Celtic Inns, said Dunedin's provision of funding "has assisted us in creating an estate of real scale and focus which has now attracted the interest of Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries".
W&DB, one of Britain's biggest regional brewers, has hit the acquisition trail regularly in recent times. Last year, it bought smaller rival Burtonwood, along with Jennings, and English Country Inns.
W&DB shares closed down 14p at 1,240p, valuing the business at about £970m.
뒤로
E-malt.com, the global information source for the brewing and malting industry professionals. The bi-weekly E-malt.com Newsletters feature latest industry news, statistics in graphs and tables, world barley and malt prices, and other relevant information. Click here to get full access to E-malt.com. If you are a Castle Malting client, you can get free access to E-malt.com website and publications. Contact us for more information at marketing@castlemalting.com .
