Punch sale reaps Texas riches

TEXAS Pacific, the gungho US private equity firm that bankrolled entrepreneur Hugh Osmond's rise to one of the biggest owners of pubs in the UK, has sold its 22% chunk of shares in Punch Taverns at a profit of well over £110m.

Also selling down their stakes were the private equity arms of Morgan Stanley and George Soros's Quantum fund, both of which also helped bankroll Osmond's pubs transformation.

The three venture capitalists, led by Texas Pacific, funded Osmond's £2.75bn David and Goliath takeover battle with Whitbread for Allied Domecq's 3,500-strong pubs estate in 1999.

It is thought today's sale marks the first significant exit for Texas Pacific, a US-based buyout firm run by David 'Bondo' Bonderman, who made his fortune in the 1993 buyout of bankrupt Continental Airlines.

His firm remains a major shareholder in Spirit Group, Punch's managed pubs division demerged from the tenanted unit.

Punch shares fell 17 1/2p to 412 1/2p today, having floated at 230p last year. Texas Pacific said it had placed its stake at an undisclosed price with institutional investors.