Hilton Group, which owns and operates Hilton hotels outside the US is to sell nine UK hotels to insurance and financial group Norwich Union £68.6m.
Hilton wants to cleans up its UK hotel portfolio before moving ahead with growth plans abroad. The company acquired rival hotel chain Stakis earlier this year and then stated that it would sell 18 of its lower end assets.
“We’re rationalizing the portfolio down to what we believe is good Hilton-quality hotel stock and eliminating overlaps where they have occurred,” said Steve Devany, a Hilton spokesman.
Norwich Union said it will purchase the properties as a real-estate investment to complement 10 hotels it already owns in the U.K.
Wall Street Journal, 2 August 1999
