UK pub operator Greene King has agreed a deal to buy four pub restaurants from rival group Punch Taverns for a total consideration of £5.3m.

The deal is being financed from the proceeds of Greene King’s April 2009 £207.5m rights issue, which has already funded the acquisition of 23 pubs from Punch in the last 12 months for a total of £51.6m as well as seven pubs from Mitchells & Butlers in December 2009.

These latest pub restaurants are food-led, destination sites in Aberdeen, Scotland and Northampton and Nottingham in England, and meet the strict strategic and financial criteria set out at the time of the company’s rights issue.

The company said it expects, following targeted capital investment and operational synergies from integration, that the sites will return to more normalised, historic trading levels.

Following this acquisition, Greene King will have invested £100m of the rights issue proceeds in acquiring and improving 34 high quality, freehold, retail sites and repurchasing below par debt.