THE former owners of Liverpool brewers Cains Beer Company have submitted a bid to buy back the business.

Ajmail and Sudarghara Dusanj bought Cains in 2002, but were forced to relinquish control to the administrators early last month after its bankers refused to support their turnaround plans.

Sources close to the company yesterday confirmed to the Daily Post that the brothers have lodged a bid with the administrators, PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The other confirmed bidder is Glasgow-based management and investment group Marketing Management Services International (MMSI), which already owns a micro-brewery on the Isle of Arran and has said it is keen to acquire other regional breweries.

The Dusanj brothers still own the Toxteth brewery and some pubs, which are held by a separate family company and have been rented to Cains. They have been steadfast in their belief that the model in place, of brewing and retail, is robust and they were caught out by factors beyond their control.

Cains completed a £37m reverse takeover of Honeycombe Leisure in May, 2007. It was this takeover which saddled the company with £40m of loans and interest payments it couldn’t meet after the credit crunch and smoking ban had taken effect.

The brewer was the subject of a winding-up petition from HM Revenue & Customs and had just reported pre-tax losses of £4.6m in the six months to April. This followed losses of £2.8m for the 14 months to October, 2007.

Cains went into administration after its bankers, Royal Bank of Scotland, refused to back its plans to turn the business around.

The administrators are continuing to consider the submitted bids, which include those for the whole company as well as for individual pubs, and do not expect any progress until next week at the earliest.

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