Topland acquires Hallmark hotels in £75m deal

Topland has acquired eight Hallmark hotels in a £75m deal.

The transaction takes Topland's portfolio to 30 hotels employing 2,000 people and follows its acquisition of Menzies hotels in November 2013.

The eight four-star Hallmark hotels have 600 employees based in areas including Croydon, Carlisle, Hull and Manchester.

Their day-to-day management will be taken on by Bespoke hotels, who have been managing the Menzies portfolio.

Topland hotels billionaire chief executive Sol Zakay said: "Securing this off-market transaction further cements Topland's ability to effect hotel portfolio transactions to complement and further develop our existing hotel business. Hallmark represented an excellent opportunity to acquire a profitable and highly rated national hotel group, with a strong record of delivering growth reflecting a textbook Topland approach, and supporting Topland's aim to build a £1b hotel platform."

Lionel Benjamin, Topland Director of Hotels added: "Hallmark Hotels success to date has been through a sharp acquisition strategy, a £16m refurbishment over the past four years and commencing the hotels repositioning in their respective locations and markets. The synergies with Menzies were immediately apparent combined with the opportunity to further grow the business as a combined hotel portfolio."

The deal takes Topland, whose hotels include Bath's Royal Crescent Hotel and the Brighton Metropole, to 3000 hotel rooms in the UK.

Osborne Clarke and Baker Tilly advised Topland.