Paul Bloomfield is to buy three central London Thistle hotels from entrepreneur Andy Ruhan for £150m.
The properties are part of a package of 37 hotels that Ruhan bought from Orb Estates in June 2003 for £700m.
1980s dealmaker Paul “Boom Boom” Bloomfield has set up special purchase vehicle European & Continental to buy the 390-bedroom Lancaster Gate, the 353-bedroom Kensington Park and the 295-bedroom Kensington Palace from Ruhan’s Atlantic Hotels.
At least two of the hotels — Lancaster Gate and Kensington Palace — are expected to be converted into apartments to increase their value.
Ruhan put the Thistle Lancaster Gate up for sale in November through CBRE Hotels and Hamptons International. Following several unsolicited offers for the other two hotels, he decided to sell the three as a group.
“We decided to sell because we were approached with a reasonable offer,” said Ruhan.
“We’ve already moved five hotels out of the Thistle group and now run them ourselves, and have sold a small Thistle hotel in Stratford. We’re intending to sell at least a couple more later in the year.”
Following the package sale of the three hotels to Bloomfield, Ruhan will be left with just one Thistle hotel in London – the 138-bedroom Thistle Bloomsbury.
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Paul Bloomfield who counts former Chelsfield chairman Elliott Bernerd and Heron boss Gerald Ronson among his closest allies spent most of the 1980s buying and selling some of Britain’s best known buildings, including Paternoster Square, EC4, before retreating to Russia in the 1990s. Bloomfield returned to the UK in 2002 to advise West LB on financing the redevelopment of Wembley Stadium. |
