One of the largest publicly traded British pub companies announced that it had been granted preliminary government approval to become a REIT.

Enterprise Inns, which leases more than 7,000 taverns across the U.K., previously revealed in March that it was discussing a possible conversion to REIT status with HM Revenue and Customs—the U.K. equivalent of the United States’ Internal Revenue Service. The approval is contingent, however, on a restructuring of Enterprise’s internal operations.

“Accordingly, in conjunction with our tax, legal and financial advisers, we are progressing the detailed analysis required to decide whether the Board will recommend to shareholders at (a shareholders’ meeting) that the Group should elect into the REIT regime,” said Hubert Reid, chairman of Enterprise.

Reid said the analysis would likely take “several months” to complete.