New York Based Investment Manager Marathon Asset Management Has Acquired 17 IHG Branded UK Hotels

Main Photo: The Holiday Inn Hemel Hempsted, one of the hotels in the deal

Date: May 2021

Locations: Across the UK, including Leeds, Leicester, Reading and Southampton

Names: Fifteen Holiday Inns and two Crowne Plazas

No. of Keys: 2,374

Seller: Cerberus Capital Management, who were advised by Eastdil Secured. They acquired the portfolio, which then consisted of 18 Holiday Inn hotels with 2,443 rooms, from a joint venture between Lehman Brothers Real Estate, Canadian property company Realstar and Singapore-based investor GIC Real Estate in March 2015 in the wake of the global financial crisis for £225m, or £92,000 per key.

Buyer: MCAP Global Finance, an affiliate of Marathon Asset Management, comprises 17 full-service hotels in key regional markets across the UK including Leeds, Leicester, Reading and Southampton.

There is a total of 2,374 bedrooms across fifteen Holiday Inns and two Crowne Plazas, with many of the hotels recently refurbished.

This acquisition follows Marathon’s sale of a portfolio of 17 IHG and Hilton branded hotel assets at the end of 2019. The portfolio was sold by CBRE to DTGO Corporation, a new market entrant from Thailand.

Joe Green, Senior Director at CBRE commented: “We are very pleased to have advised Marathon on their purchase of this high quality and well-positioned portfolio. This transaction reflects investors’ confidence in the recovery of the hospitality market.”

European hotel investment volumes in the first quarter 2021 remained historically low, reaching €2.16 billion ($2.63 billion), down –49.7 percent year-on-year. However, this does represent the least severe quarterly year-on-year decline since the onset of the pandemic, reported Savills. The United Kingdom remains the most liquid hotel market in the first quarter 2021, totaling €746.5 million ($910.5 million), accounting for a 34.6 percent share of total European hotel transaction volumes. The maturity of the hotel sector across markets such as the United Kingdom and Germany, coupled with a strong domestic travel profile, has supported ongoing investor demand.

Price: Undisclosed

Price per Key: £75,000 per key we think

THPT Comment: 17 hotels sold in January 2002, 17 hotels acquired in 2021…such is life in this Covid era.

First Seen: Boutique Hotelier

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