The Spirit Group, the managed pub division of Punch Taverns, has taken back 31 pubs from the Orchid pub group's administrators.

Fourteen of Orchid's pubs remain unsold and the administrators, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), will begin the closure of these businesses with "immediate effect". It is understood that over 150 staff will subsequently made redundant. PwC sold 240 of the group's 289 pubs back to Orchid's private equity backer, GI Partners, in December 2008 just two days after being appointed as the administrators. One pub has also been sold to an individual buyer and the remaining businesses have been acquired by Enterprise Inns, bringing the number of pubs saved from closure to 275.

David Chubb, partner at PriceWaterhouseCoopers, said: "We are extremely pleased to have been able to effect an immediate sale of this business." Pubs chains operated by Orchid include the Country Carvery, Sri Thai chains and Spirit pubs, originally part of Punch Taverns.

The Orchid group acquired 290 pubs, bars and restaurants from Punch Taverns in April 2006 making it the fifth-largest managed pub retailer in the UK.