Four weeks-worth of due diligence and £500m (€804m) separate Pubmaster, the UK pub group controlled by German bank WestLB, from taking over 1,250 UK public houses owned by Nomura.

Pubmaster's £500m bid for Inn Partnership, the UK pub chain owned by Nomura's principal finance group, has been accepted, subject to due diligence enquiries that are due to last up to four weeks.