A bidder has stepped forward to buy a chain of pubs, including some in Preston, from a stricken brewery business.
Scottish investment firm Marketing Management Services International (MMSI) said it would be interested in buying Cains Beer Company with its Liverpool-based brewery and pub portfolio, including the Last Orders chain.
This includes the pubs on Chu
rch Street, Preston, Water Lane, Ashton, Station Road, Bamber Bridge, Market Street, Chorley and Church Street, Lancaster.
MMSI managing director Gerald Michaluk has said he believed Cains was "potentially a hugely profitable business, if one can buy it at the right price".
He said: "I am interested in the whole shooting match – the brewery and the pubs."
Brothers Sudarghara and Ajmail Dunsanj, who put the brewery into administration in July, are also believed to be set to put in a bid to administrators PricewaterhouseCooper (PwC) although are yet to submit one.
PwC has announced a "phased closure" of 24 pubs from the company's 115-pub portfolio, including the Thatch and Thistle in Southport and Ship Inn at Lathom, near Burscough.
None of the Lancashire-based pubs in the Last Orders chain have yet be confirmed as closing.
The Dunsanj went into administration in July after bankers at the Bank of Scotland failed to back a new business plan after announcing losses of £4.6m in the first half of 2008.
They took over the Preston pubs after taking over Fulwood-based Honeycombe Leisure in a £36m deal last May.
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