Lazard deal with brewer goes flat after investment trust fails

A plan to launch an investment trust specialising in regional brewers has flopped because of insufficient interest from institutions, it emerged last night.

Lazard Investors, part of Lazards merchant bank, said the plan to launch Lazard Brewers Investment Trust had been derailed because it failed to reach its target of raising pounds 50m via an offer for subscription in 10 million pounds 5 units.

Lazards would not say how far the offer's take-up fell short, but sources said it came 'very close'. The failure of the launch scuppers an agreed deal in which Lazard Brewers Investment Trust (BRIT) was to buy pounds 27m of shares in regional brewers owned by Whitbread.

The shares, in HP Bulmer, WH Brakspear, George Gale, Hardys and Hansons, and Joseph Holt, were the rump of the old Whitbread 'umbrella' investments in regional brewers.

A Whitbread spokeswoman said last night: 'The deal was always conditional on the launch of the trust. As it has not come to fruition, they will revert to us.'

All options remained open, she added.

Paul Rintoul, a director of Lazard Investors, said: 'We are very disappointed.' He added that the launch of BRIT had proved 'a rocky road'.

Mr Rintoul felt the launch's failure reflected difficult market conditions rather than concerns about regional brewers. One man particularly disappointed by the flop was Billy Whitbread, a former director of Whitbread Investment Company, who joined Lazard Investors to conduct the day- to-day investment management of BRIT.

He said at the launch: 'I firmly believe that this sector is due a substantial re-rating and that BRIT should provide an attractive opportunity for investors.'

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