Nomura's Principal Finance Group, run by Guy Hands, has made a profit of £162m (€262.6m) on the sale of Inn Partnership, a pub estate, according to sources close to the company.

Nomura's Principal Finance Group paid Greenalls, the UK leisure group, £385m for the pub estate in 1999. The group has just sold the business, Inn Partnership, for £523m to Pubmistress, the parent group of Pubmaster of the UK. It is understood that Nomura put in about £153m in equity, and took out £315m.