Global chain MGM Muthu Hotels has moved into the Scottish market with the acquisition of five hotels for around £8.5m.
The largest deal sees Ian Cleaver’s Highland Heritage Limited sold for around £4.5m to the Singapore-headquartered company.
The Highland Heritage Limited sale includes four hotels and Cleaver’s fleet of 16 Volvo coaches, which is used to shuttle tourists to the hotels. The hotels are the 96-room Royal Hotel, the 132-room Ben Doran Hotel, the Dalmally Hotel in Strathorchy and the 66-bedroom Alexandra Hotel in Oban, which has 26 more rooms in planning.
MGM Muthu Group also bought the 63-bedroom Newton Hotel in Nairn for £4m from a London-based corporate owner that was seeking to rationalise its portfolio.
The MGM Muthu Hotels Group currently has 27 hotels in its portfolio.
The Newton was once popular with Charlie Chaplin, who took numerous holidays there with his family.
Alistair Letham, Scottish director in the UK hotels agency team at Colliers International, which acted on behalf of the vendors, said: “Muthu will be well positioned to further develop the potential of these properties.”
Julian Troup, head of UK hotels agency at Colliers International, added: “We are seeing increased demand for quality provincial hotel opportunities from a diverse buyer set, including international investors, who have been attracted by weaker sterling and improving trading prospects; private buyers attracted to the benefits of a lifestyle opportunity to corporate investors attracted to favourable returns and real estate alternatives.
“Since the beginning of 2016, more than 15% of U.K. hotel sales completed by Colliers were to international buyers.”
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