Robert Breare's Noble House Leisure and his financial backer, Botts & Co, have pulled out of the battle for control of Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries after nine months, leaving the field clear for the rival bidder, Pubmaster.
In a joint statement yesterday evening, Breare and Botts said they had dropped their bid after W&D's board declined to recommend their bid, W&D launched its long-awaited strategic review and Pubmaster said it was willing to beat Beare's bid.
"In the light of these circumstances, Botts and Mr Breare have decided not to proceed with their proposed offer for Wolves," the statement said.
However, Breare may still end up with a slice of Britain's largest regional brewer. Pubmaster, which said it would continue to pursue talks with the Wolves board to reach an agreed takeover deal, said it had agreed to sell to Breare and Botts up to 290 managed pubs from Wolves' estate of around 1,750 pubs if its bid, believed to be around 520p a share, was successful. This would value Wolves at around £480m.
Breare said: "We believe the transaction between Pubmaster and ourselves is the way most likely to enable a successful bid for Wolves," He said the 290 managed pubs had been his goal throughout the bid attempt.
Pubmaster, which has around 2,000 tenanted pubs of its own, had said it hoped to submit a formal bid by mid-May after talks with Wolves's financial adviser, N M Rothschild.
The UK takeover panel has ruled that Breare's consortium and Pubmaster must submit their bids on or before June 1, which may have put more pressure on Breare to end his interest in a takeover of Wolves. The panel said no extension to the June 1 deadline will be given and each party had accepted the ruling.
Last month Wolves' board rejected indicative offers from Pubmaster and Breare, deciding instead to bring in its own strategic plan, which involves selling one of its four breweries and stopping bproduction at another, selling off some pubs and returning £200m cash to shareholders. It would withdraw from contract brewing of Harp lager to concentrate on its two core ale brands at the remaining breweries: Banks's at Wolverhampton and Pedigree at Burton.
It also put up for sale its 130 high street branded pubs, including the Pitcher & Piano chain, to concentrate on a smaller managed estate of 550 community pubs.
Breare has already beaten Pubmaster, Nomura and L&G Ventures to become the preferred bidder for Scottish and Newcastle's 650 managed pubs, a £350m deal likely to be decided in June,
In a joint statement yesterday evening, Breare and Botts said they had dropped their bid after W&D's board declined to recommend their bid, W&D launched its long-awaited strategic review and Pubmaster said it was willing to beat Beare's bid.
"In the light of these circumstances, Botts and Mr Breare have decided not to proceed with their proposed offer for Wolves," the statement said.
However, Breare may still end up with a slice of Britain's largest regional brewer. Pubmaster, which said it would continue to pursue talks with the Wolves board to reach an agreed takeover deal, said it had agreed to sell to Breare and Botts up to 290 managed pubs from Wolves' estate of around 1,750 pubs if its bid, believed to be around 520p a share, was successful. This would value Wolves at around £480m.
Breare said: "We believe the transaction between Pubmaster and ourselves is the way most likely to enable a successful bid for Wolves," He said the 290 managed pubs had been his goal throughout the bid attempt.
Pubmaster, which has around 2,000 tenanted pubs of its own, had said it hoped to submit a formal bid by mid-May after talks with Wolves's financial adviser, N M Rothschild.
The UK takeover panel has ruled that Breare's consortium and Pubmaster must submit their bids on or before June 1, which may have put more pressure on Breare to end his interest in a takeover of Wolves. The panel said no extension to the June 1 deadline will be given and each party had accepted the ruling.
Last month Wolves' board rejected indicative offers from Pubmaster and Breare, deciding instead to bring in its own strategic plan, which involves selling one of its four breweries and stopping bproduction at another, selling off some pubs and returning £200m cash to shareholders. It would withdraw from contract brewing of Harp lager to concentrate on its two core ale brands at the remaining breweries: Banks's at Wolverhampton and Pedigree at Burton.
It also put up for sale its 130 high street branded pubs, including the Pitcher & Piano chain, to concentrate on a smaller managed estate of 550 community pubs.
Breare has already beaten Pubmaster, Nomura and L&G Ventures to become the preferred bidder for Scottish and Newcastle's 650 managed pubs, a £350m deal likely to be decided in June,
