An affiliate of Starwood Capital Group's Starwood Global Opportunity Fund XI has acquired a portfolio of seven Hilton hotels with more than 1,300 guestrooms across the UK from Park Hotels & Resorts for £135 million.
Kew Green Group will manage the hotels in several of the UK's hotel markets, including London, Edinburgh, Bath and Belfast, under franchise deals with Hilton Worldwide. The portfolio includes the 188-room Hilton London Islington, the 173-room Hilton Bath City, the 184-room Hilton Edinburgh Grosvenor, the 198-room Hilton Belfast, the 278-room Hilton Blackpool, the 138-room Hilton Milton Keynes and the 175-room Hilton Coylumbridge. Starwood Capital plans to renovate several of the hotels as part of its second partnership deal with Kew Green in 12 months.
The two groups also partnered in April 2017 for the purchase of the 298-room Holiday Inn Manchester City Centre. An affiliate of Starwood Global Opportunity Fund XI acquired the hotel from Dominvs Group. The Holiday Inn opened in April 2016 under the management of Kew Green through a franchise agreement.
This Holiday Inn joined the Starwood affiliate's portfolio of hotels in Manchester following the purchase of the former Palace hotel in 2013. The Palace now operates as a Principal hotel as of November 2016 following the launch of Starwood’s UK-based brand Principal Hotels. Principal Hotels owns and operates a portfolio of 39 hotels across the UK as of May 2017 following the acquisition of The Grand Hotel in Birmingham, England.
Kew Green operates more than 50 hotels in cities throughout the UK, including London, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Birmingham, Manchester and Portsmouth, under the brands Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn Express, Courtyard by Marriott, ibis Styles and Hampton by Hilton, following this recent acquisition. The portfolio sale also follows Park Hotels & Resorts' recent sales of three Embassy Suites properties and one South African hotel.