Deadline for Von Essen hotel bids few days away

04 July 2011 by
Deadline for Von Essen hotel bids few days away

Prospective buyers for any of the Von Essen portfolio of hotels have just a few days left to register their initial bids.

Christie & Co, which is marketing the 26 hotels in the UK, one in France and a development opportunity on a Welsh island, said that offers need to be registered by Tuesday 12 July.

The property agent, which is acting on behalf of administrators Ernst & Young, has now received inquiries from interested parties "well in excess" of the 200 inquiries it confirmed four weeks ago.

Bids for the groups as a whole, for a price in excess of £200m, are being invited as well as offers for the individual properties. The most expensive are Cliveden in Taplow, Berkshire, at £35m and the Royal Crescent in Bath at £22.5m.

Christie & Co will not reveal any of the prospective bidders, but hotel groups and wealthy individuals who could be in the frame include Hand Picked Hotels, Orient-Express Hotels and Andrew Brownsword, owner of Gidleigh Park and the Bath Priory hotels.

The most unusual part of the Von Essen portfolio is Thorn Island Fort, a Grade II-listed Napoleonic fort situated on an island off the Pembrokeshire coast. Andrew Davis, the former owner of Von Essen, had intended to turn it into a luxury hotel.

The two-acre site is being sold, with two deep-water moorings, as a development opportunity, for £750,000.

Von Essen went into administration in April, with debts of more than £250m, after defaulting on its loans.

Von Essen woes highlight struggle of regional hotels >>

Von Essen hotels ion the market >>

Cliveden tops the price tag on Von Essen hotels >>

By Janet Harmer

E-mail your comments to Janet Harmer here.

If you have something to say on this story or anything else join the debate at Table Talk - Caterer's new networking forum. Go to www.caterersearch.com/tabletalk

Caterersearch.com jobs

Looking for a new job? Find your next job here with Caterersearch.com jobs

[Newsletters For the latest hospitality news, sign up for our e-mail newsletters.
The Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email

Start the working day with The Caterer’s free breakfast briefing email

Sign Up and manage your preferences below

Check mark icon
Thank you

You have successfully signed up for the Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email and will hear from us soon!

Jacobs Media is honoured to be the recipient of the 2020 Queen's Award for Enterprise.

The highest official awards for UK businesses since being established by royal warrant in 1965. Read more.

close

Ad Blocker detected

We have noticed you are using an adblocker and – although we support freedom of choice – we would like to ask you to enable ads on our site. They are an important revenue source which supports free access of our website's content, especially during the COVID-19 crisis.

trade tracker pixel tracking