Punch Taverns has invited offers from business insurance customers who are leasing any of the 500 pubs it plans to sell, it is reported.
MandC Report has learned that the leased and managed pub group is in effect giving first refusal to the pub insurance customers who are currently licensees of the freehold properties, according to the Morning Advertiser.
The company will then appoint an agent to market the pubs to a wider audience of business insurance customers, most of which it expects to sell on an individual basis, the newspaper reports.
"This is in line with what we said we would do, and we always write to licensees when their pub has been identified for sale, inviting them to consider making an offer," Giles Thorley, chief executive of Punch Taverns, told MandC.
In November, Punch announced profits of £262 million before tax, down from £282 million in 2007, with basic earnings per share of 80.2p.
