FDBusiness.com

UK regional brewer and pub operator Greene King has completed the £53.1m acquisition of Realpubs in line with its strategy to expand and improve the quality of its retail estate. Realpubs currently operates 14 premium London pubs, of which all but one are freehold, and their offer is a well developed and highly successful one, targeting the premium, pub dining customer within London. The acquisition is being funded by Greene King’s existing bank facility.

”We continue to supplement strong underlying organic growth with targeted, value-creating acquisitions to accelerate our strategic aim of growing our retail business to around 1,100 pubs and building the best retail estate in the UK,” says Rooney Anand, chief executive of Greene King. “The addition of Realpubs takes the total number of Greene King sites within the M25 to 217 and positions us strongly ahead of, during and after the Olympics in London in 2012, when London and its pubs and restaurants will be visited by tourists from across the world.”