Raithwaite Estate bought out of administration

A Harrogate property business has bought the 80-bedroom Raithwaite Estate in North Yorkshire out of administration for an undisclosed sum.

Richard Jackson's Yorkshire Ventures has acquired the leisure destination from the hands of administrators KPMG, with the backing of York-based pension lender Grosvenor Financial Consultants.

The deal includes the hotel, spa and restaurant along with 100 acres of the estate and seven luxury cottages at Sandsend, near Whitby.

Raithwaite Estate originally opened in 2011 after a £30m development by Yorkshire-based buy-to-let developers the Skelwith Group. The estate secured an extra £10m investment from Grosvenor Financial Consultants in 2013 to create extra luxury accommodation.

The Skelwith Group had plans to open another luxury hotel development, the Flaxby Country Resort, a 303-bedroom hotel near Knaresborough that was set to cost £100m and would have been one of the north of England's largest hotels.

But in July last year, Skelwith Leisure, a subsidiary of Skelwith Group, went into administration, reportedly owing £19m in unpaid VAT to the taxman.

Skelwith Leisure (Raithwaite), which owned and operated Raithwaite Hall, also went into administration.

Jackson, who was formerly non-executive chairman of the Skelwith Group, now plans to develop a further 46 cottages at Raithwaite Estate, which already have planning consent. Work will begin this month and will create 50 new jobs.

Yorkshire Ventures has appointed hospitality management company Inn-telligence to run the hotel. The team is headed by Penny Brown and Meinhard Huck, both previously senior executives with Raffles Hotels and Swissotels, of which Huck was president.

Brown said: "Raithwaite Estate is a stunning property with enormous potential to increase its range of services and facilities and to attract more visitors to Whitby."

Inn-telligence and Yorkshire Ventures have announced plans for the hotel to become part of Preferred Hotels & Resorts under its Lifestyle brand. This would see Raithwaite Estate join a string of other names under the Preferred banner, including the Scotsman in Edinburgh, and the Wellesley and the ME by Melia in London.

The deal received the backing of Mark Pepper's York-based Grosvenor Financial Consultants, which held the ownership of the land and assets.

"This is a good deal and ensures that a great development and a profitable luxury resort has a really bright future. The acquisition ensures the value of the site, against which the loans were secured, is safeguarded," said Pepper.

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