Hanover buys Andrew Weir

Hanover International is buying six-strong hotel group Andrew Weir for about £33m.

The board of Andrew Weir, a conglomerate focused mainly on the shipping business, is selling the hotels because it considers they are no longer a "core strategic area".

It owns and operates three four-star and three three-star hotels, totalling 536 bedrooms. Its flagship is the four-star Cardiff Bay Hotel, with 156 bedrooms.

The other two four-star properties are the 100-bedroom Basingstoke Country Hotel in Hampshire and the 114-bedroom Pine Lodge Hotel in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire.

Its three-star hotels are the68-bedroom Old Palace Lodge in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, the 60-bedroom Glen Eagle in Harpenden, Hertfordshire, and the 38-bedroom Wortley House in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire.

Merchant bank SG Hambros said several potential buyers, a mix of three- and four-star hotel groups and venture capitalists, had looked at the properties.

In the year to 31 December 1999, the group turned over £15.1m and made an operating profit of £3.4m. Average occupancy was just under 70% and room yield was about £38.

The acquisition will give Hanover a total of 14 hotels and conference centres.