MWB plans more Malmaison hotels
After months of speculation, Marylebone Warwick Balfour (MWB)is the new owner of boutique hotel chain Malmaison.
MWB, a property company, at once announced plans to open more hotels, both in major UK cities and in Continental Europe.
Malmaison, owned by US firm Wyndham International, was launched in 1994 with hotels in Glasgow and Edinburgh. It has since opened in Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle.
Competition was fierce, with particularly strong bidding from Spanish hotel group Sol Melia.
MWB paid £65m for Malmaison. In a joint venture with Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS), it has set up a new company, Malmaison Holdings, which for £11m has bought the Malmaison brand and all rights to its worldwide expansion.
As part of the agreement, Malmaison Holdings has granted a franchise to Wyndham to open branches in the USA, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.
Birmingham will be next to have a Malmaison: a 184-room hotel will open there next year. MWB also plans to convert its Charterhouse Square property in London's Smithfield into a Malmaison, giving another 76 rooms.
Andrew Blurton, joint finance director of MWB, said the company would be looking at launching branches of Malmaison in other major UK cities as well as European centres such as Paris, Frankfurt and Rome. They would continue to target business travellers with rooms at up to £100.
Wyndham had begun planning a Malmaison in San Francisco before the sale. Roy Tutty, chief executive of Wyndham International Europe, confirmed the project would be one of the first to be considered. There had been talks about a management buyout, possibly led by Tutty, but they came to nothing.
by Linley Boniface
