JT Davies, the Croydon-based pub company, is now less than 0.5% from the point where it would have to make a bid for the brewer Brakspear & Co, after buying another 124,000 shares for £730,000.
Davies funded its latest purchase out of the sale for £3.25m of 45% of its shareholding in another family pub company, Fuller Smith & Turner of West London. Fuller's said it had bought all the shares itself to cancel them. In May Davies, which has 50 pubs and bars of its own, sold all of its 9% shareholding in a third family brewer, Young & Co, for £2.35m.
Since the beginning of May JT Davies, which was already Brakspear's biggest shareholder, has lifted its holding in the company from 16% to 29.52%, worth £19.4m. It is now just 53,500 shares short of the 30% mark where, under UK law, it would have to make a full bid for the company, which has 400 small shareholders, mostly members of the Brakspear and Chalcraft families.
A spokesman for the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers confirmed that the 30% rule applies to companies, like Brakspear, whose shares are quoted on Ofex, the unofficial share market, as well as those with full quotes on the London stock exchange.
In March Brakspear, which owns around 100 pubs, announced it was considering pulling out of brewing because overcapacity in the industry and the buying power of the big pub companies meant that margins were poor and shareholder value was suffering.
The news sparked a campaign targeting the 400 mostly tiny shareholders in Brakspear, to try to ensure the company's Henley brewery stays open.
One family member, Geoff Brakspear, who owns 80,000 shares, has already written to the brewery's chairman, Mike Foster, to say that it would be "a crying shame" if brewing operations ceased. Mr Brakspear, who lives in Harare, Zimbabwe, said brewing was "the very essence" of the company.
Brakspear said it never commented on share sales, while JT Davies also said it had no comment to make about its share purchases or its intentions towards the brewer.
Davies funded its latest purchase out of the sale for £3.25m of 45% of its shareholding in another family pub company, Fuller Smith & Turner of West London. Fuller's said it had bought all the shares itself to cancel them. In May Davies, which has 50 pubs and bars of its own, sold all of its 9% shareholding in a third family brewer, Young & Co, for £2.35m.
Since the beginning of May JT Davies, which was already Brakspear's biggest shareholder, has lifted its holding in the company from 16% to 29.52%, worth £19.4m. It is now just 53,500 shares short of the 30% mark where, under UK law, it would have to make a full bid for the company, which has 400 small shareholders, mostly members of the Brakspear and Chalcraft families.
A spokesman for the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers confirmed that the 30% rule applies to companies, like Brakspear, whose shares are quoted on Ofex, the unofficial share market, as well as those with full quotes on the London stock exchange.
In March Brakspear, which owns around 100 pubs, announced it was considering pulling out of brewing because overcapacity in the industry and the buying power of the big pub companies meant that margins were poor and shareholder value was suffering.
The news sparked a campaign targeting the 400 mostly tiny shareholders in Brakspear, to try to ensure the company's Henley brewery stays open.
One family member, Geoff Brakspear, who owns 80,000 shares, has already written to the brewery's chairman, Mike Foster, to say that it would be "a crying shame" if brewing operations ceased. Mr Brakspear, who lives in Harare, Zimbabwe, said brewing was "the very essence" of the company.
Brakspear said it never commented on share sales, while JT Davies also said it had no comment to make about its share purchases or its intentions towards the brewer.
