Royal Bank of Scotland is looking for buyers for a second trophy London hotel as it attempts to cash in on rising investor confidence in the capital.
The bank has put a £220m asking price on the Cumberland at Marble Arch, W1, which is leased to Thistle Hotels and run under its Guoman brand.
It is the fourth time the bank has attempted to sell the hotel, which it bought as part of a £1.25bn sale-and-leaseback deal in 2001. The sale is not related to a distressed loan.
In 2007, the bank put the 1,019-bedroom hotel on the market as part of a four-strong, £650m portfolio, which included the Waldorf Hilton, WC2, the Park Inn at Heathrow and the Marriott Victoria & Albert in Manchester.
The Cumberland was the only hotel in the portfolio that was not sold.
In January this year, RBS put the five-star Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane, W1, up for sale (16 January, p35). It is expected to fetch between £600m and £700m.
One source said: “We are seeing proper sentiment come back, now investors are confident. There is robust evidence that the market has gone beyond the bottom. However, London is an isolated case at the moment in demonstrating recovery.”
Also this week, Starman Hotels, a hotel investment joint venture between Lehman and Starwood Capital, put Le Meridien Piccadilly, W1, back on the market for around £70m.
A £67m sale to Egyptian investor RAMW Group collapsed a year ago.
Jones Lang LaSalle is advising Starman; CBRE Hotels is advising RBS.
