NewRiver REIT is seeking to float its Hawthorn community pubs portfolio as a standalone business on the London Stock Exchange.
The portfolio, which consists of 673 pubs, was valued at £262m in September. Of these, 96% are freehold, with 80% operated on a leased and tenanted basis.
NewRiver said the pub chain is able to take advantage of the consumer shift to working from home and using local services and facilities. It expects to see a “strong bounce-back” in activity as hospitality venues reopen.
The IPO will be led by Hawthorn chief executive Mark Davies, who is also the REIT’s chief financial officer. Davies has led Hawthorn for two years and has played a key role in growing the landlord’s community pub company since 2013.
Davies will be replaced as NewRiver’s CFO by finance director Will Hobman.
The pub business was built after acquiring 202 pubs from Marston’s in December 2013, 158 pubs from Punch in September 2015 and Hawthorn’s 298-pub operating platform in May 2018.
In the meantime NewRiver will home in on community retail, with selling its non-core assets and “transforming” its regeneration assets among its main objectives.
“Overall, our assessment is that the consumer economy will perform better than expected but that the retail sector will continue to be influenced by market trends which existed pre-Covid,” said the landlord.
“That said, we are confident that our business will emerge from the pandemic in a stronger position to tackle challenges and to capitalise on opportunities.”
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