Europe’s first hotel real estate investment trust (REIT) is to list on the London Stock Exchange this month.
The company, Vector Hospitality, expects to raise £2bn (€2.9bn) from its £2.6bn portfolio of 71 hotels, which contain 10,781 rooms operated by chains including Hilton, Marriott and Malmaison.
It could raise £3.5bn once debt has been taken into account. This will come from convertible bonds and banks, including HBOS and the Royal Bank of Scotland.
Vector is the second UK REIT to start from scratch. The Local Shopping REIT, the first retail REIT in the UK, saw its first day of trading last week, raising £160m. The other 13 UK REITs, including British Land and Hammerson, were converted from established property companies.
“Coming from scratch means you can select the right assets and put the right leases in place with an annual uplift in pace with inflation,” said Vector Hospitality director Richard Balfour-Lynn.
Balfour-Lynn, chief executive of Marylebone Warwick Balfour, is one of six directors on a board chaired by Simon Duffy, former head of NTL.
