The new Qatari owners of Maybourne Hotel Group are exploring a refinancing of the company’s £1.6bn portfolio.
The trio of hotels now owned by Constellation Hotels Group are three of London’s most famous and luxurious – The Berkeley, The Connaught and Claridge’s (pictured). Constellation is looking for around £800m of debt, reflecting a loan-to-value ratio of close to 50%.
At the end of last month a deal was struck by Constellation to buy out stakes controlled by Paddy McKillen and the Barclay brothers, ending a long-running dispute between the two parties over the ownership of the hotels.
It is understood that under the previous ownership structure Maybourne was refinanced at the start of this year by a large club of lenders led by Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies and including Wells Fargo, Royal Bank of Canada, Insight Investment and Deutsche Pfandbriefbank. The loan is currently subject to call protection.
It is thought that many existing lenders are eager to remain involved in any new arrangement, while Deutsche Bank is also thought to be interested in the mandate.
Deutsche has been a previous financier to the owners of the hotels, as have HSBC and Barclays. Last summer Deutsche provided a £200m senior loan to refinance The Savoy hotel, which was part of Maybourne until it was sold for £750m to Saudi Prince Alwaleed’s Kingdom Holdings and HBOS in 2005.
