Historic hotel bought by global finance firm
THE DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel and Spa in Chester has been acquired for an undisclosed sum by investment vehicles affiliated with MCAP Global Finance (MCAP) in a deal brokered by the specialist hotels team of real estate advisers Colliers International.
The acquisition of the four star hotel on the outskirts of the city is the latest strategic investment in the UK leisure sector following the purchaser’s acquisition of 11 Queens Moat Houses hotels branded as Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn in the summer of 2014.
The deal was brokered by head of UK hotels at Colliers, Julian Troup, acting on behalf of the previous owners of the hotel, Sanguine Hospitality and investment funds managed by Downing.
Following completion of the deal, The DoubleTree will be operated and managed by newly formed management company Valor Hospitality Europe.
Set in 12 acres of landscaped gardens on the outskirts of Chester, the hotel has 140 bedroom suites, the Hoole Hall Club and Spa, extensive conference and function facilities and restaurants and bars including the Marco Pierre White Steakhouse Bar and Grill.
The original Hoole Hall was built in the 14th Century and occupied by the Lord of Hoole before being burned down by Oliver Cromwell’s Parliamentarian army in the English Civil War and remaining derelict until being rebuilt more than 100 years later in 1757.
It subsequently underwent several changes of ownership before becoming a hotel, bar and bistro in 1982 and being refurbished and rebranded as The Double Tree by Hilton Hotel and Spa Chester in 2009.
The hotel has traded strongly in recent years and has the potential for further growth.
Troup said: “The hotel is one of the North West of England’s leading luxury hotels with outstanding facilities and represents an ideal and strategic addition to the buyers growing portfolio of select UK hotels.
“Our instructions were to handle the sale in a confidential fashion and the opportunity attracted UK and International interest. The transaction demonstrates the increasing demand for high quality provincial UK hotel assets from a multitude of different types of buyers”.
MCAP Global Finance is a UK subsidiary of New York-based investment adviser Marathon Asset Management.
