Marathon Asset Management has made progress with its expansion into the hotels sector and is under offer to buy five former Mint hotels for £160m.
The assets are five of the original Mint Hotels that Blackstone bought in 2011.
The four-star hotels, which have since been rebranded as Doubletree by Hilton and Hilton Garden Inn, are located in Glasgow, Leeds, Birmingham, Bristol and Manchester (pictured). They have 1,100 bedrooms in total.
The remaining three assets are the most valuable: two Doubletree by Hilton London hotels – in Westminster, SW1, and near the Tower of London, EC3 – as well as the Doubletree by Hilton in Amsterdam.
Blackstone bought the portfolio of eight hotels for around £600m from Lloyds Banking Group. The bank had taken control of the assets after a breach of covenant on its £450m loan to Mint Hotels.
In January, a £550m refinancing with JP Morgan was agreed for the entire portfolio to reduce the cost of existing debt and take cash out of the deal.
American investment company Marathon entered the UK hotel market in August last year with the purchase of 11 former Queens Moat Houses for £130m. Last month it bought the 140-bedroom Doubletree hotel in Chester, to be run by its associated management company, Valor.
Marathon is actively looking for further assets – targeting hotels running under major brand flags, as well as distressed assets indebted to banks looking to enforce their loan conditions.
Eastdil Secured advised Blackstone on both the refinancing and the sale of the hotels.
