Sir Rocco Forte's Balmoral and Lowry hotels could be sold

23 April 2013 by
Sir Rocco Forte's Balmoral and Lowry hotels could be sold

Two of the three UK properties within Rocco Forte Hotels may be sold and leased back to the company.

It is believed that the sale of the 188-bedroom Balmoral hotel in Edinburgh and the 165-bedroom Lowry hotel in Manchester is being considered. Around £100m could be raised by the disposal of the two five-star hotels.

The company, which operates 11 luxury hotel, has recently lost a management contract to operate a property in Abu Dhabi, as well as exiting from an uneconomic lease in Prague. It currently has plans to open four hotels in Marrakech, Jeddah, Luxor and Cairo.

The remaining UK hotel in the portfolio is the 117-bedroom Brown's hotel in London's Mayfair.

In its latest accounts, in the year to 30 April 2012, Rocco Forte Hotels lost £9.2m, on sales of £182m.

At the weekend The Sunday Times Rich List said Sir Rocco Forte, his sister Olga Polizzi, who is the design director for the hotel group, and family are worth £250m. The fortune stems from the £3.8b takeover of the Forte group in 1996 which netted the family £325m.

Rocco Forte Hotels declined to comment.

Rocco Forte loses contract to manage Abu Dhabi >>

Caterer and Hotelkeeper 100 - Sir Rocco Forte, Rocco Forte Hotels >>

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