Wolves saga takes another twist

Regional brewer Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries has rejected a hostile £453m takeover bid from pubs group Pubmaster. Pubmaster made a 480p-a-share cash bid late on Friday, in a move backed by entrepreneur Robert Breare, who teamed up with Pubmaster last month after pulling out of the race himself to take over W&D. W&D, which makes Banks' and Pedigree beer, said the 480p offer undervalued the company and unanimously rejected it. Chairman David Miller said it was an attempt to buy W&D "on the cheap". Pubmaster insisted the offer was a good one, and it was now up to shareholders to make up their minds whether to accept it. "It is a good price, a fair price for the company," said a spokesman. W&D shareholders have until the end of June to make their decision. The bid is the latest twist in a saga going back to August last year, when Breare said he was considering a 500p-a-share bid for W&D. In April, Pubmaster made an indicative offer for W&D, believed to be around 510p-a-share, valuing W&D at £480m, and last week made a conditional offer of 491p-a-share, or £464m. All approaches so far have been rejected by W&D, which last month announced a major shake-up designed to see off its predators. W&D plans to sell off 130 "concept and town centre sites" including its Pitcher & Piano chain. Some 200 smaller managed pubs will be turned into tenanted outlets. The company has since then been in talks with a number of interested parties about Pitcher & Piano, with approaches thought to be in the region of £70m, compared with a value on paper of around £50m. by Nic Paton