Qatar’s Constellation Hotels Buys 64% in Maybourne, the Company Which Owns London’s Claridge’s, The Berkeley and The Connaught

Date: April 2015

Location: London, UK – Mayfair & Knightsbridge

Names: Claridge’s, The Connaught & The Berkeley (Coroin/Maybourne), five star

No. of Keys: 508

Seller: Coroin – Sir David & Sir Frederick Barclay and Mr Derek Quinn, not happy bedfellows! The Barclay brothers are the owners of Telegraph Media Group, publisher of the Daily Telegraph. The sale closes the long-running court action re ownership of the three hotels.

Buyer: Constellation Hotels, owned by Qatar Holding, the sovereign fund backed by the Qatari royal family.  Constellation Hotels has become a major investor in the luxury hotel market in recent years, including the InterContinental London Park Lane in 2013 £301.5m for 447 rooms) and Le Grand Hotel in Paris (€330m) in 2014.

The Qatari list also includes the Churchill — owned by an investment vehicle belonging to the former prime minister of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Jaber al-Thani, known simply as HBJ and the Carlton Hotel in Cannes, France, which is owned by Doha-based Katara Hospitality.

Price: Undisclosed, rumoured to be around £2bn (for the 64%)

THPT Comment: Interesting how the peaceful and pleasant atmosphere to be found in these fab hotels, was not mirrored in the courts with legal havoc that has reigned for the past few years between the Barclay brothers and Paddy McKillen, the co-owners of Coroin/Maybourne.

The sale of the shares to Constellation means Mr McKillen and the Barclays are dropping all action over the ownership of the three hotels, “so that there is a clear focus on investing in the continued success of these iconic hotels”.