UK Group of Hotels, formerly Puma Hotels, goes into administration
Financial advisors Duff & Phelps has been appointed to take over the running of the business. Directors of UK Group of Hotels, Peter Procopis and Michael Jourdain, have left the company, while chief executive of the Hotel Collection Frederik Korallus remains in his role.
The 21 regional four-star hotels within the Hotel Collection continue to operate as normal, with all staff retained in their roles and all existing bookings honoured.
Previously known as Puma Hotels PLC until June, UK Group of Hotels PLC was renamed at the same time as Puma Hotels Ltd, the operating company, was rebranded as the Hotel Collection Ltd.
Two weeks later it was announced that the £323m debt of the Hotel Collection had been acquired by Lone Star Funds from the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation.
Derek Short of the Hotel Corporation, which holds 49.9% of shares in the UK Group of Hotels, said that he will be meeting with the administrators to discuss the restructuring of the company. "We have carried our investment in the company as a nil value asset for some time now because of the heavy borrowings exceeding the valuation of the group," he said.
The UK Group of Hotels and the Hotel Collection have undergone a turbulent couple of years since Barcelo pulled out of a 45-year lease in April 2012 - five years after signing it in 2007 - to operate the 21 hotels. Although the Spanish group agreed to pay a penalty fee of £20.25m for breaking the contract, Puma Hotels, as it was then known, lost annual rent of £30m from Barcelo.
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