UK pub retailer Greene King has closed an innovative securitisation that allows it unprecedented operational flexibility while reducing its funding costs.
The £600 million ($1.13 billion) deal securitises 904 of Greene King's managed and tenanted pubs – the only deal on the market to include both assets – but is structured to allow for transfers in and out of that portfolio. This gives the company more operational flexibility than a usual whole business securitisation while still maintaining controls that satisfy rating agencies and investors.
RBS lead managed the deal, advised by law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. The company was advised by law firm Linklaters.
Linklaters partner James Harbach said: "The transaction was unique in that it involved the securitisation of both tenanted and managed estates, some of which formed part of the Laurel pub estate recently acquired by Greene King and unlike other pub securitisations, Greene King acts as intermediary supplier of products but also brews and supplies its own beer."
Marcus Mackenzie, the partner who led Freshfields on the deal, said: "Greene King has opened up a significant source of cheaper funding through the capital markets, allowing them to reduce their funding costs substantially."