Scottish Pub Group looks for £20m for Expansion

A Scottish independent pub group is seeking to raise £20m to fund its expansion through acquisitions. 

Edinburgh-based Bruce Group Scotland, which owns 19 pubs in and around the capital, is issuing a bond to fund growth over the coming few years. 

Bruce group was founded in 1999 by Kevan Fullerton and Scott Piatkowski.

Its portfolio of bars, clubs and music venues include the George IV Bar, Royal Mile Tavern, La Belle Angele and Whistlebinkies. 

The Bruce Group explained it was looking at expanding after having a "considerable growth" in recent years.

Mr Fullerton said: "We believe that the pub market currently offers excellent potential for growth and profitability and we have the scale, expertise and knowledge of the market to expand substantially in a relatively short timescale. We think that our model, extended across Edinburgh and into Glasgow and the central belt, will produce a profitable pub group which, although centrally owned and operated, retains the individual identity and character of each pub. We are not creating a chain, we are building a group of individual pubs which nonetheless benefit from experienced management, strong financial backing, and the cost savings which a large group can command."

The bonds of the subsidiary of the Bruce Group, Bruce Pubs plc, are being traded on the NEX Exchange Growth Market.