UK's London & Regional considers 47-hotel portfolio purchase

In the UK, London & Regional Properties is in talks to buy 47 hotels valued at more than £550 million from Lone Star Funds. Nearly all of the hotels operate under the Holiday Inn Express brand.

The London-based developer is the preferred bidder for the hotels, although another company may still beat L&R to buy the lodgings.

Spokesmen at L&R and Lone Star weren’t available to comment, while a representative for 

Eastdil Secured, which is marketing the assets, declined to comment, as did representatives for London & Regional, Lone Star, and IHG. 

This portfolio purchase comes on the heels of a record year for hotel transactions in Europe. Deals increased 79 percent last year to €22.8 billion, according to data compiled by CBRE. The UK alone saw €9.3 billion worth of transactions, more than twice as much as a year earlier. Even better, STR has reported that hotel occupancy in the UK is the second-highest among Europe’s 15 biggest markets after Ireland, reaching nearly 75 percent in Q1 this year.

Source: Bloomberg