THE Dusanj brothers have completed the deal to regain control of Liverpool brewer Cains, just 43 days after it was placed in administration.

Last night, a spokesman for Sudarghara and Ajmail Dusanj said the brothers were now focused on getting back to running the brewery, but would be conducting a “review of its operations”.

The amount paid by a company controlled by the pair has not been disclosed by administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

The deal sees the brothers regain control of the brewer, which they had run since 2002, and nine pubs originally in the Cains estate, including Dr Duncan’s.

It effectively undoes the ill-fated reverse takeover of Honeycombe Leisure which saw Cains take on the running of 92 pubs and around £40m of debt in 2007.

PwC said the Dusanj brothers were expected to continue the business as a going concern and approximately 90 brewery and pub staff transferred with the business.

Craig Livesey, joint administrator and director at PwC said: “After a difficult period of trading for the company in administration, we are pleased that a sale of the business as a going concern has been possible.

“We believe that this sale gives the best chance for continued employment for the majority of the company’s staff, and also gives suppliers and customers an opportunity of continued business with the brewery.”

PwC added that the sale did not extend to the larger pub estate owned and managed by other group companies, which the administrators hope to sell over the coming months.

As revealed in the Daily Post last week, the pair had been in advanced talks to regain control of the brewery for days.

Those talks finally concluded late on Friday night, and the deal was eventually sealed close to midnight.

The spokesman for the brothers said: “They have been working hard to try to make sure they can protect jobs and carry on Cains brewery. As time goes by, they will be more inclined to speak personally about what’s happened and their future plans.

“Their main objective at the moment is to get stuck back in to running the brewery.”

Cains went into administration on August 7 to avoid a winding-up petition that was issued by HM Revenue and Customs after the firm was unable to pay tax bills.

The company’s bankers, Bank of Scotland, had refused to back the management’s rescue plans after the firm had lost £4.6m in the six months to April and then continued to struggle in the next three months.

The brothers looked likely to regain Cains as they own the freehold of the brewery site.

The terms of the lease meant that potential new owners – a company not controlled by the pair – would have to pay £1m in rent, around double the current rate being paid.

davidbartlett