Aprirose buys QHotels portfolio for £525m

The largest hotel deal in the UK his year has completed following the acquisition of the 26-strong QHotels portfolio by real estate investment company Aprirose from Bain Capital Credit and Canyon Partners for £525m.

Redefine|BDL Hotels (RBH) has been appointed by the new owner to manage the collection of four-star hotels, which includes the 312-bedroom Midland hotel in Manchester (the focus of this week's Conservative party conference), the 215-bedroom Queens hotel in Leeds and 169-bedroom Dunston Hall in Norwich.

Together, the hotels comprise more than 3,000 bedrooms, taking the total number of hotel bedrooms owned by Aprirose up to more than 5,300. Spas are located at 24 of the hotels, while 10 have golf courses.

QHotels' managing director, Michael Purtill, who founded QHotels in 2003, has left the business and retired, along with his wife, Trudi, who was the group's development director.

Key members of the senior team at QHotels, including finance director Ian Goulding, HR director Nichola Roskell, operations director Vivien Sirotkin and sales director Chris Gaines, are now working on a consultancy basis with RBH, headed by chief executive Helder Pereira, to ensure "the smoothest possible transition" in the management of the hotels.

The QHotels brand will remain in place for the time being.

The company now has a portfolio of around £1.7b of assets under management.

The deal was funded by Aprirose, headed by chief executive Manish Gudka, and its international investors, including Chinese company Cindat Capital Management.

Gary Jones, chief operating officer at Aprirose, said: “Our strategy is to double the value of assets under management, while at the same time exiting from maturing transactions.”

Pereira said the addition of the QHotels portfolio to RBH will increase the number of properties managed by the company to 75. “This is another landmark addition to the Redefine|BDL Hotels portfolio,” he explained. “Leisure amenities such as spas and golf facilities represent key revenue streams for us, so we are very pleased with the quality and prestige of the properties we will now be managing.”

Aprirose was advised by Colliers, West Ridge, KPMG and Dentons; and Bain Capital Credit and Canyon Partners were advised by Eastdil Secured, Deloitte, DLA and Jones Day.

Aprirose acquires 73 Mitchells & Butlers pubs >>

QHotels appoints second Midland hotel general manager in space of a year >>

Aprirose sells 13-strong pub portfolio to BlackRock for £23m >>

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