MSI buys hotels as plans for flotation take shape
Management Services International (MSI), the Berkshire-based hotel and consultancy group, is preparing for rapid expansion and a stockmarket flotation within 18 months.
The group last week added two hotels to its portfolio and welcomed a new institutional investor, Ivory & Sime Enterprise Capital.
The new acquisitions, the 62-bedroom Grand Hotel in Northampton and the 55-bedroom Westcliff Hotel at Westcliff-on-Sea, Southend, bring MSI's core portfolio to four hotels. Another property, the Abbey Lawn Hotel in Torquay, is currently on the market.
Niall Caven, MSI's financial director, told Caterer that the group wanted to grow to about 12 three-star hotels of between 50 and 75 bedrooms. Currently three or four sites were being looked at.
"We are looking for underperforming hotels in strong secondary locations," he added.
The Grand Hotel was bought from a family who have controlled the hotel for more than 10 years. The hotel will probably be closed in the new year for a refurbishment. Acquisition and renovation costs total around £2m.
The Westcliff, which has been managed by MSI since March 1993 after it was put into receivership, was acquired from MSI's non-executive chairman Richard Koch. The 20-bedroom Saffron at Saffron Walden will remain in Mr Koch's private ownership.
- Stakis is continuing to enjoy buoyant trade at its hotels with its latest trading statement showing occupancy up 1.7 percentage points year-on-year to 79.6% for the 13 weeks to 1 October.
