Prospective bidders for Mitchells & Butlers, the UK pub and restaurant operator, are negotiating over confidentiality agreements, which will stipulate whether they will be allowed to launch joint bids for the company. M&B, which is being advised by Citigroup and Greenhill, is understood to have sent the confidentiality agreements to three prospective bidding teams last Friday in an attempt to kick-start a formal auction. However, Punch Taverns, CVC and Blackstone, and Cinven, which all received the letters, want to stay flexible at such an early stage.
