Nine Hilton hotels for sale after owner's administration
Nine Hilton hotels across the country are up for sale after administrators put them on the market.
The move follows the appointment in February this year of AlixPartners as joint administrators of Zinc Hotels (Holdings) and a further 24 companies within the Zinc Hotels Group.
The business was owned by property developer Vincent Tchenguiz, who bought 10 Hilton hotels for £335.7m in 2002.
Hilton initially retained a 40% stake in the properties and in 2006 sold the rest of the interest to Tchenguiz under an agreement that would see the operator lease them until 2029.
Now nine of those hotels, all of which continue to operate as normal, are up for sale. They are:
Hilton Hotel, Croydon
Hilton Hotel, Watford
Hilton Hotel, East Midlands Airport
Hilton Hotel and Woodcourt Lodge, Cobham, Surrey
Hilton Hotel, Nottingham
Hilton Hotel, Leeds City
Hilton Hotel, Northampton
Hilton Puckrup Hall, Twyning, Tewkesbury
Hilton Hotel, York
The largest of the Hilton hotels owned by Zinc, the 603-bedroom Kensington Hilton, is not included as part of the package of hotels for sale.
Instead, it is subject to a separate and ongoing sales process.
Tchenguiz tried to offload the portfolio last year, but a sale was not agreed.
Meanwhile, The Times reported earlier this year that Tchenguiz is pursuing legal action against Hilton accusing the operator of trying to wriggle out of the leases.
"The portfolio offers a unique opportunity to acquire nine full service hotels, providing a total of 1,444 rooms and 203 acres of land."
Rob Stapleton, director Savills added: "The exceptional quality of credit, and guaranteed annual RPI linked rental uplifts provided by these leases, affords a genuinely unique hotel investment opportunity.
"The hotels are available either individually or as a group and we anticipate interest from a diversified cross-section of both local and international capital sources."
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