De Vere sells venues arm in £232m deal

DE Vere, the hotel and leisure group, has sold its De Vere Venues business – which operates a number of regional assets – to US investment firm Starwood Capital for £232m.

Among its other North West venues are The Studio in The Hive in Manchester city centre, the 52-bed Cheadle House near Manchester Airport and Wychwood Park near Crewe, Cheshire.

The venues business has 30 sites and 3,000 bedrooms accommodating around 700,000 conference meeting delegates a year.

Following the disposal, the company will have 27 Village Urban Resorts, including two under construction, and six De Vere Golf Resort hotels.  

The company said it had also signed an exclusivity agreement with a third party for the sale of Grand Brighton, following strong expressions of interest from a range of potential purchasers.