Singaporean Buxani Group Buys GoGlasgow Urban Hotel

Date: May 2018

Location: Paisley Road West, Glasgow, Scotland, UK

Name: GoGlasgow Urban Hotel

No. of Keys: 117

Seller: Crerar Hotel Group, with the sale handled by Colliers International. Crerar bought the hotel off the receivers, Deloitte, for what was the Swallow Hotel, in September 2014.

Crerar Hotel Group was formed in 2006 and now operates 13 hotels and inns throughout Scotland, with one in Yorkshire.

Crerar Hotel Group passes 50% of its distributable profit to charity and good causes annually through the Crerar Trust chaired by Paddy Crerar CBE.

Buyer: Singapore-based Buxani Group. The sale marks the Buxani Group’s first hotel in the UK ahead of a planned series of investments into the UK hotel market.

Crerar Hotels also plans to sell off “a further cluster” of its hotel portfolio.

The deal was agreed off-market, but the guide price of the property was reported to be close to £10m. Thailand-based Compass Hospitality has been appointed to manage the hotel, which was redeveloped in 2015 by Crerar Hotels.

Kishore Buxani, founder and chief executive of the Buxani Group, said: “We are delighted that we have secured our first hotel in the UK and especially in Scotland, which is currently experiencing tremendous growth in tourism and business travel.

We continue to be very optimistic of the global tourism industry and are actively looking for more hotel opportunities in the UK and Europe.”

Matthew Welbourn of Compass Hospitality UK, said: “The hotel was re-positioned following refurbishment two years ago and has since shown robust growth with excellent customer feedback following the development.”

Julian Troup of Colliers International added: “We are continuing to witness an increasing flow of such deals, particularly involving buyers from the Far East and Asia, because the devaluation of sterling following the EU Referendum means such transactions are now 20% less expensive than in recent years, thereby making the UK hospitality market a very attractive prospect for buyers overseas.”

THPT Comment: A welcome new addition to the UK hotel scene from Singapore…and Compass have done well to manage 14 hotels in the UK as well as 31 hotels in 6 locations in Malaysia and Thailand.

First Seen: The Caterer