Terra Firma eyes £300m Stonegate pubs acquisition

Terra Firma Capital, the private equity firm founded by former EMI-Music owner Guy Hands, is plotting a £300m bid for a package of hundreds of Stonegate’s best-performing pubs.

The private equity firm is among a handful of prospective bidders preparing to table bids in the coming days, according to Sky News.

Terra Firma is understood to be mulling a bid for a package of around 300 sites from Stonegate’s best-performing ‘platinum’ pubs, which are among those put for sales late last year in a bid to reduce Stonegate’s debt pile.

The pub group had previously mulled the sale of up 1,000 freehold pubs across its 4,5000-strong estate, which were valued at approximately £1b.

The pub chain is working with investment firm Eastdil on the process.

Terra Firma is run by founder Guys Hands’s son, Richard. Its previous investments include music company EMI, care homes operator Four Seasons Health Care and Annington Homes, the former owner of thousands of Ministry of Defence homes.

TDR Capital-backed Stonegate was founded in 2010 with 333 pubs and now has more than 4,500 sites under brands such as Slug and Lettuce and Be At One following its acquisition of rival chain Ei Group in 2020.

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