Exclusive: Interstate's Jim Abrahamson on Sanguine portfolio acquisition

1 Mar, 2013 By: Stephanie Ricca

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The 52-room Hotel Indigo Birmingham is part of the acquisition. Known as "the Cube," the hotel opened in 2011.

Interstate Hotels & Resorts today announced its acquisition of the management platform of Liverpool, U.K.-based Sanguine Hospitality, a hospitality development and ownership company.

With this transaction, a high quality portfolio of 14 hotels in the U.K., aggregating more than 1,900 rooms, will be added to Interstate’s European portfolio, bringing the total number of hotels managed and signed by Interstate to 51 in the region. The U.K. portfolio includes nine newly developed hotels under international brands—mostly opened within the past two years—and five hotels currently in development. Two-thirds of the operating hotels are full service and the remaining are select service.

“We see this as a No. 1 portfolio of hotels,” Jim Abrahamson, CEO of Interstate Hotels & Resorts told Hotel Management. “Simon Matthews-Williams [chairman and founder of Sanguine Hospitality] and Sanguine have assembled a unique portfolio with a variety of brands and branded boutique properties in great markets. This isn’t a tired portfolio or a mixed bag. This is a first-class portfolio that couldn’t be better positioned.”

The portfolio includes properties branded under DoubleTree by Hilton, Hampton by Hilton, Hilton, Wyndham and Hotel Indigo.

Sanguine “will continue to develop hotels and we will continue to manage on an exclusive basis for them,” Abrahamson said. “They’re a big believer in brands and so are we. From our perspective, it continues to build a strong pipeline within Interstate.”

Abrahamson said he and the company were most happy with the quality of the portfolio and the people behind Sanguine. “They have a very creative, young team that is part of a successful hotel company,” he said. “This is not a situation where we are coming in and inserting Interstate people. We think they will enjoy working for us, and we get the opportunity to get a great base of hotels and terrific people we can build on.”

Given the young age of the assets themselves, Abrahamson said the acquisition “is not a renovation project.”

“These are new-build properties that are in great shape and market leaders,” he said. “The exciting part is how unique and creative these hotels are. We’re acquiring a terrific team and we have the opportunity to add our scale and benefits.”

The operating properties included in the portfolio are the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel & Spa Chester, the DoubleTree by Hilton Bristol South-Cadbury House, Hampton by Hilton Birmingham, Holiday Inn Express Holylake/Liverpool, Hotel Indigo Birmingham, Hotel Indigo Liverpool, Hotel Indigo Newcastle, Days Inn Liverpool and Days Hotel Chester North. The hotels under development are the DoubleTree by Hilton Liverpool, Hilton at the Ageas Bowl/Southampton, Hampton by Hilton Exeter International Airport, Hampton by Hilton Sheffield and Holiday Inn Express Birmingham.

“Future projections for this market are robust, and with 14 hotels signed or opened thus far, Interstate is eager to manage this portfolio with high quality developers and solid fundamentals, improving every hotel’s bottom line,” said Leslie Ng, chief investment officer of Interstate Hotels & Resorts. “Sanguine upholds a strong reputation in Europe for outstanding developments, and as we execute our global expansion strategy we anticipate success alongside our new partner, who has quickly established itself as one of Europe’s premiere developers of hotels.”

Sanguine has future plans for developments in Newcastle, Glasgow and three developments in the pipeline for London.

 

 

Topic : Interstate Hotels & Resorts, Management, Transactions
External Source : Hotel Management