A DRINKS firm boss says he had not expected anyone would rival Whitbread's bid to buy 3,500 pubs.
Whitbread, which employs more than 1,000 at its Samlesbury and Guide sites, bid more than £2 billion for Allied Domecq pubs. But rival bidder Punch upped the offer to £2.75 billion.
Allied chairman Sir Christopher Hogg admitted the board had not anticipated the potential for a rival bidder to Whitbread.
"We underestimated the remarkable achievement of Punch Taverns in putting together an offer and in persisting with that offer," he said.
But he said the board would not have done anything differently.
Shareholders of Allied Domecq have rubber-stamped the £2.75 billion sale of its pubs estate to Punch Taverns.
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