Belhaven has agreed to an offer from Greene King which, including net debt, is valued at £254m.
The deal will see Greene King add 270 pubs across Scotland to the 2,370 it owns from Plymouth, on the south Devon coast, to Wick, in the Scottish Highlands.
Greene King promised to keep the Belhaven brewery, in Dunbar, open “indefinitely”. The Financial Times says the bid underlines the gathering pace of consolidation in the industry to expand geographically.
Analysts think Greene King could next target Hardys & Hansons 260 pubs which are mainly in the East Midlands.
Notebook, in The Guardian, says the real commercial assets within small regional brewers are the bricks and mortar of their pub estates.
References: Financial Times 23/08/05 page 18, page 19 (Mudlark), page 38 (FT Markets – London), The Guardian 23/08/05 page 16 (Market forces), page 17 (Notebook, Main), The Times 23/08/05 page 1, page 34 (Need to
