De Vere Hotels moves closer to finding new buyer
An American investment firm is believed to be on the verge of snapping up six golf hotels from the De Vere Group, for around £160m.
Sankaty Advisors, part of Bain Capital, has been named by The Times as being the front-runner for the high-profile properties after outbidding rivals including Starwood Capital and KSL Capital Partners.
The hotels involved are Cameron House on Loch Lomond; Slaley Hall, in Northumberland; Mottram Hall, in Cheshire; Dunston Hall, near Ipswich; Belton Woods, near Grantham; and Oulton Hall, near Leeds.
The sale would not include Carden Park near Chester or the management contract to run The Belfry, in Sutton Coldfield.
In December 2013 Andrew Coppel, De Vere's chief executive, Coppel confirmed to Caterer and Hotelkeeper that the De Vere Group was working towards the sale of both De Vere Hotels and Village Urban Resorts to offset its original £1.1b debt with the Lloyds Banking Group.
"We have invested in the business, improved performance across the hotels and brought new blood into the company. This has all been achieved through a very tough trading period, but the forecasts are looking better for 2014 and 2015."
