Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou has failed to avoid a takeover of easyHotel, the chain he started in 2004 and in which he has a minority stake.
A consortium of investors, including Ivanhoé Cambridge of Canada, and Icamap of Luxembourg, have taken control of the firm.
In a statement before the deal was announced, Sir Stelios accused the bidders of trying to “steal the company from under the noses of other investors”.
But the consortium, Citrus UK Bidco, said it had received enough acceptances of its 95p per share offer. The offer values the company’s shares at £139m.
The remaining shareholders have until September 17 to accept the offer, which has been recommended by easyHotel’s board as “fair and reasonable”.
The budget chain owns 38 hotels, totalling 3,633 rooms. Of these, 26 hotels are franchised and 12 are owned hotels. The hotels are located across the UK, Europe and Dubai.
EasyHotel lost £120,000 in the first six months of the year to the end of March, with the firm attributing the loss to the temporary closure of its London Old Street hotel and higher depreciation from new hotels.
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