Veritas Investments is buying a string of gastro-pubs in Auckland and Hamilton for $31 million, in what the company describes as a game-changing acquisition.
The conditional purchase of The Better Bar Group will be mostly funded through a bank loan, with the remaining 25 percent through the issue of new shares.
Veritas said with its latest acquisition it expected to increase annual revenue to more than $90 million on a full-year basis.
The company already owns The Mad Butcher franchisor, the Nosh Food Market business, and a 50 percent stake in Kiwi Pacific Foods - the meat patty maker.
Veritas chairman, Mark Darrow, said the pub's owners were mulling over a sale.
"I think they were considering it, and through an introduction we've been having discussions over the last four or five months," he said.
"That's transpired into a deal which was confirmed this morning".
Mr Darrow said the gastro-pubs fit into the portfolio perfectly.
"It fits well within the mandate we have around food and beverage. It's certainly very complimentary. There's some synergy we can take both in the food and beverage side, with The Mad Butcher and Nosh Food Market.
"Depending on which metric you use, it effectively doubles the size of the Veritas group. So it's a real game-changing acquisition for us."
