Camra lobby group hits out at Punch Taverns takeover talks
The Campaign For Real Ale on Thursday joined a queue of critics flagging up competition concerns over Heineken’s potential takeover of Punch Taverns.
Colin Valentine, chairman of the lobby group with nearly 185,000 members, said it “is seriously concerned” at the 174p-a-share proposal from Patron Capital Partners, working with the Dutch brewer.
Heineken would acquire about 1900 of Punch Taverns’ 3300 pubs from Patron immediately after a takeover, giving it a total of about 3000 UK pubs.
Punch has also received a 185p-a-share approach from Emerald Investment Partners, led by Alan McIntosh, the co-founder of Punch.
Valentine said: “Any attempt to monopolise the industry goes against the spirit of the great British pub.”
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He added: “We are currently seeing 21 pubs closing every week. With 3300 pubs about to be sold this will bring huge uncertainty.”
Yesterday the Scottish Licensed Trade Association warned: “It represents bad news for brewers, whose route to market will almost certainly be controlled by Heineken.”