Malmaison and Hotel du Vin sold for £363m

18 June 2015 by Janie Manzoori-Stamford

L to R: Guus Bakker, chief executive, Frasers Hospitality Europe, Middle East & Africa; Paul Roberts, chief executive, Malmaison Hotel du Vin; Choe Peng Sum, chief executive, Frasers Hospitality

Boutique hotel brands Malmaison and Hotel du Vin have been sold for £363.4m to Asian hotels firm Frasers Hospitality UK.

The subsidiary of Singapore-based property firm Frasers Centrepoint Limited (FCL), snapped up the 29-strong group of hotels from US-based private equity firm, KSL Capital Partners, which in the UK owns the 27-strong Village Urban Resorts and the hotel and golf course complex the Belfry, in Sutton Coldfield, West Mildands. The deal was completed yesterday.

Gary David, former chief executive of Malmaison and Hotel du Vin, has remained with KSL to run the Belfry and Village hotels.

The acquisition doubles the Frasers Hospitality room stock in Europe to about 4,000 rooms and expands the company's portfolio to 129 properties in 77 cities with 21,100 rooms. In the UK, Fraser Hospitality owns and operates eight serviced apartment businesses in London and two in Scotland (Edinburgh and Glasgow).

Malmaison and Hotel du Vin, with 2,082 rooms across 25 UK cities, achieved average occupancies of more than 80% for the last three years and claim "superior" revenue per available room against the market.

Lim Ee Seng, group chief executive of FCL, said his company's focus remains on achieving balanced growth while diversifying its "earnings profile".

He added: "This acquisition is important as it doubles our offerings in Europe to about 4,000 keys [rooms] and it propels Frasers Hospitality to be one of the leading hospitality players in this market."

Frasers Hospitality's chief executive Choe Peng Sum also commented: "MHDV provides a tried and proven DNA in the boutique lifestyle segment for us. The purchase of Malmaison and Hotel du Vin perfectly complements our brand portfolio and gives Frasers Hospitality a platform to expand into the fastest-growing hospitality sector. We look forward to building on this success with future development in the UK, Europe and Asia.

"With these two best-in-class lifestyle brands, we are on track to reach our goal of operating 30,000 keys by 2019."

The Malmaison Hotel du Vin group (MHDV) was bought by KSL in 2013 in a transaction rumoured to be worth £200m, four months after the administration of parent company MWB Group. KSL said at the time it planned to invest "significantly" in the group of 27 properties.

Both brands were founded in 1994: Malmaison by Ken McCulloch and Hotel du Vin by Robin Hutson and Gerard Basset. The two groups were united in 2004 when Hutson and Basset sold Hotel du Vin to Malmaison's owner, MWB.

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