PUNCH Taverns has sold 252 pubs to ease regulatory concerns over its takeover of rival Pubmaster.

The company, based in Burton-on-Trent, said it had secured two deals worth £57m to sell the pubs to a joint venture of the William Pears and Flodrive groups and London and Edinburgh Inns.

It expects the deals to be completed next month, with proceeds being used to fund further acquisitions and capital investment in its pubs estate.

Punch agreed to dispose of a minimum of 206 pubs following its £1.19bn takeover of Pubmaster last month.

But it decided to sell another 46 inns following a valuation of the combined estate of 4,500 Punch pubs and 3,100 sites owned by Pubmaster.

Robert McDonald, finance director, said: "One of the reasons for selling the pubs was to address any potential competition concerns where we had local concentrations of pubs."

Punch posted a ten per cent rise in turnover to £429m in the 53 weeks to August 23, with pre-tax profits ahead 22 per cent at £113m.