Marston’s, the Midlands brewer and pub operator, confirmed the sale of 279 of its tenanted pubs for £82.5m in cash to AAIM, the property investment firm backed by Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and pop music impresario Simon Cowell. The Times. Financial Times


AAIM intends to build an empire of more than 1,500 pubs over the next few years and recently appointed former Yates’s finance chief Colin Rowlinson.

Marston’s, which sponsors England’s national cricket team, sold the pubs to focus on its properties that sell food, ahead of the smoking ban that comes into force in England on 1 July.