Administrators resign from Signature Living’s Coal Exchange hotel

Administrators have resigned from overseeing Signature Living’s Coal Exchange hotel and said they are “hopeful the Official Receiver or any subsequent liquidator will be able to achieve a better result for the company’s creditors”.

Kelly Burton and Lisa Hogg of Wilson Field have resigned from their position as joint administrators of the company and the administration has now ended as funding for the hotel’s holding costs were withdrawn.

The administrators said they had made “every endeavour” to sell the hotel, the decision “was not taken lightly” and “it is with regret that a better outcome could not be achieved for the company’s creditors”. They also said they had no involvement with regards to the reopening of the hotel or the application for a licence to sell alcohol.

The business fell into administration earlier this year. The 200-bedroom Exchange hotel opened in 2017, following a £42m investment into the Welsh capital’s former Coal Exchange building.

The group’s George Best hotel in Belfast, which was due to open this summer, also fell into administration separately earlier this year, as did Signature Shankly, the property subsidiary of Signature Living’s Shankly hotel.

Signature Living announced last year that it intended to sell or refinance "many" of its properties following reports of investors’ concerns over repayments. The group also owns the Signature Living aparthotel, the Arthouse hotel and the Alma de Cuba bar-restaurant in Liverpool, with multiple properties under construction. The group’s former 30 James Street property in Liverpool has reopened under Legacy Hotels’ management and no longer has links to Signature Living.