Lone Star's hotel investment group Amaris Hospitality has sold the Mercure St Albans Noke and Mercure Newcastle County Hotel to local investors for an estimated £20 million. Gainford Hotel Group acquired the Newcastle property, while Nine Hospitality Group bought the St Albans hotel.
“The acquisitions followed a highly competitive sales process which reflected very well on the management and operations of both of these hotels,” John Brennan, Amaris Hospitality CEO, said. “Acquisitions and disposals are consistent with our overall strategy, which is focused on optimizing the return on our overall portfolio of hotels through targeted acquisitions, smart investment in transforming our existing estate and physical product and, where appropriate, value realisation through selective disposals.”
Amaris Hospitality was founded just over a year ago, when Dallas-based private equity group Lone Star formed a £1-billion company through the acquisition of 89 UK hotels.
“The strategy is to create a branded hotels business,” Brennan said at the time. “Many of these hotels have great locations but have not had much put into them. We have £100 million to invest and renovate these hotels.”
Last year, Amaris revealed plans to rebrand 23 hotels from its portfolio as part of a £124-million investment venture.