Thwaites sells Stafford Hotel for £77m
NORTH West brewer Daniel Thwaites has sold its upmarket Stafford Hotel in London for £77.5m.
The hotel, which is based in St James’s Place, London, has been bought by Britannia Hospitality.
The £77.5m consideration is inclusive of repayment on all outstanding debt owed by the hotel to Britannia which is part of a privately-held Egyptian company.
In the year to 31 March 2009, Stafford Hotel had a turnover of £9.5m and contributed an operating profit of £2.7m to the group.
Daniel Thwaites said it will realise a book profit on the sale of £13m and a revaluation surplus of approximately £18m.
It intends to utilise the proceeds, after making an agreed payment into the company’s defined benefit pension scheme, to reducing bank borrowings and to fund on-going working capital requirements.
Some investors have questioned the price tag. Guinness Peat Group, which holds a 6% stake in Thwaites, said selling the hotel for less than £100m represented a poor deal.
The five-star, 105-bedroom Stafford, which is behind Green Park in London’s West End, had been owned and run by Thwaites’ subsidiary Shire Hotels since 1995.
