Whitbread to release £50m by selling and leasing back seven Premier Inn properties
Whitbread is to sell and lease back seven Premier Inn properties to release £53.8m for future projects.
The hotel and restaurant group has exchanged agreements with LaSalle Investment Management on a deal which is expected to be completed in September.
LaSalle will pay £53.8m for the properties and enter into 25-year leases with Whitbread.
Whitbread said the price represented a profit over book value of £28.1m and is 87% of the 2007 valuation ascribed to the properties.
Christopher Rogers, group finance director of Whitbread PLC, said: "Whilst Whitbread remains committed to having a substantial freehold asset base it is our strategy to diversify our sources of funds. This sale and leaseback is another example of selectively using our property as an alternative method of funding future growth."
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By James Stagg
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