Ei raises a glass to £3bn Stonegate takeover

Ei Group, formerly Enterprise Inns, which has just over 4,000 pubs, agreed a 285p-a-share takeover by Stonegate Pub Company
Ei Group, formerly Enterprise Inns, which has just over 4,000 pubs, agreed a 285p-a-share takeover by Stonegate Pub Company
TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER ALAN WELLER

Britain’s pub industry is set for a shake-up after the company behind Yates’s, Walkabout and Slug and Lettuce agreed to buy Ei Group, the largest owner of tenanted pubs in the country, in a £3 billion deal.

Ei Group, formerly called Enterprise Inns, said it had agreed a 285p-a-share deal with Stonegate Pub Company valuing its equity at £1.27 billion. Including its net debt, the takeover equates to an enterprise value of £2.97 billion.

The combined business will have almost 5,000 bars and pubs, making it the largest company in the industry. Ei Group has just over 4,000 pubs, the vast majority freehold, and at its recent half-year results it declared the value of its property assets at £3.3 billion.

The company was founded in