Punch today announces that contracts have been exchanged with companies owned by The William Pears and Flodrive groups of companies in joint venture with London & Edinburgh Inns for the disposal of pubs that were sold to Flightwater Limited (a special purpose vehicle formed by Aletheia Partners) at the time of the Pubmaster acquisition.

Punch also announces that it has exchanged contracts on the disposal of a further package of pubs to another company owned by The William Pears and Flodrive groups of companies in joint venture with London & Edinburgh Inns. The two packages in total comprise 252 pubs and the total gross consideration is £57 million in cash. Completion is expected in January 2004.

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