Pub group secures £350m emergency cash raise

Mitchells & Butlers (M&B) has raised £350m in emergency funding to stave off pandemic blues.

The company, which owns Toby Cavery and All Bar One, raised £350.5m through an open offer that will see it issue 167m new shares.

M&B launched the cash raise after its liquidity “deteriorated significantly” as a result of lockdown measures during the pandemic, admitting that the future of the hospitality sector remains “extremely uncertain”.

The Birmingham company said in January that it was burning through up to £40m of cash a month.

In February, the majority stakeholders of M&B came together to form a new bloc, with Piedmont, Elpida and Smoothfield, which own a 55% stake in M&B, forming a new entity called the Odyzean Group.

The new group said it will look to streamline decision-making at M&B by reducing the new number of non-executive directors on the company’s board.

M&B has also announced that it has agreed a £150m unsecured revolving credit facility with its banks.