Greene King ups offer for Spirit Pub to £723m

PUBCO Greene King has increased its offer for Staffordshire rival Spirit Pub Co in a deal which values the Burton-upon-Trent business at more than £723m.

In a statement to the London Stock Exchange today, the board of Spirit was said to be in talks regarding the possible takeover, which was rejected last month.

The Spirit board has indicated to Greene King that it would be willing to recommend the revised proposal subject to the satisfactory resolution of the other terms of the offer.

The revised offer comprises 0.1322 Greene King shares per Spirit share and a cash payment of 8p per share (including any 2014 final dividend) representing a value of approximately 109.5p per Spirit share based on the closing price of Greene King shares on October 17, 2014.

Under the revised proposal, Spirit shareholders would own approximately 29% of the combined new Greene King.  

The new offer remains conditional on, amongst other things, due diligence being completed and the support of the Spirit board.

Spirit, a spin-off from Punch Taverns, had rejected the earlier offer of £661m saying it under-valued the business.