PUBS group Punch Taverns today poured cold water on speculation it was in talks about a £5bn merger with the owner of All Bar One.
Punch Taverns was said to have approached leading shareholders of Mitchells & Butlers about a deal to create a business with 11,000 pubs.
But after a weekend of press speculation, Punch told the stock market today that no such talks were taking place.
The reports comes after a summer’s turmoil in financial markets delayed Mitchells & Butlers’ £4.5bn plans to put 1,300 of its pubs into a tax-efficient property venture with entrepreneur and major shareholder Robert Tchenguiz.
Some M&B investors are said to be keen to revive this deal as financial markets recover.
Punch, which is based in Burton-upon-Trent Staffordshire, has more than 8,400 pubs, including about 60 in the Huddersfield area.
