Laurel Pub Holdings, owned by Morgan Grenfell Private Equity (MGPE), is set to sell 1,860 of its tenanted pubs to Enterprise Inns less than a year after it acquired the assets, rather than doing a securitisation to fund the deal, as previously planned.

Last year Whitbread, the UK leisure group, sold its pubs and bar company to Morgan Grenfell Private Equity for £1.6bn (€2.6). The assets were split into two types: managed pubs, where individuals own the pubs and run them, and tenanted pubs, where the individuals that run the pubs pay rent to, and buy the beer from, the owner. Laurel will hold on to the managed pubs for the time being.