MSI sheds hotel as focus alters

Management Services International (MSI) has put its Torquay property, the Abbey Lawn Hotel, on the market at an asking price of £1.3m, just two years after buying it.

Nick Sonley, a director at MSI, said the company was reluctantly selling the property due to a realignment of its objectives.

It had decided to focus entirely on its commercial properties, based on motorway corridors, whereas the Abbey Lawn catered almost exclusively for the leisure market.

"The hotel is very profitable, which is why we are reluctant to sell, but it does not fit with our plans," said Mr Sonley.

Prior to its purchase by MSI in 1993, the hotel was refurbished at a cost of £1.5m. Mr Sonley said the £1.3m asking price was close to what MSI originally paid. The sale is being handled by property agent Bettesworths.