The UK brewer and pub owner Scottish & Newcastle has put a deadline of September 30 to receive final offers for its 1,450-pub estate, which it is auctioning off for an estimated £2.5 billion.
There are there bidders left in the auction process, the pubs groups Laurel and Spirit, and CVC-Cinven, a private equity pairing.
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Although all three are thought to have bid around the £2.5bn, Laurel, which is owned by Deutsche Bank’s private equity arm and runs just over 600 ex-Whitbread pubs, is seen as the favourite.
