New mega hotel group created by Lone Star
John Brennan
American private equity group Lone Star is to create a new company that will unite a total of 89 hotels which it has recently acquired and is in the process of acquiring.
Amaris is the name of the new company, which the Financial Times reports will be worth £1b. Lone Star intends to float the group on the stock market in the medium term.
The company will be made up of the Puma Hotels, which Lone Star acquired last year for £323m and has since rebranded as the Hotel Collection, 29 Jury Inn properties (bought for £680m in January), 21 Mercure hotels, three hotels branded as Hilton, and 19 Thistle hotels (following completion of a deal on 30 July).
John Brennan, the current head of Jurys Inn, will become Amaris's chief executive. "The strategy is to create a branded hotels business," he told the Financial Times.
"Many of these hotels have great locations but have not had much put into them. We have £100m to invest and renovate these hotels."
Grant Hearn, chairman of the Hotel Collection, will become non-executive chairman of the new company.
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