Four Grange Hotels sold for £1bn

A FAMILY of Asian hoteliers has sold four hotels in central London to Queensgate Investments. 

Under the deal, the Grange Hotels at St Paul's, Grange Tower Bridge, Grange City, and Grange Holborn were sold for £1 billion to Queensgate Investments. 

Grange Hotels is one of London's largest privately-held hotel groups. It was founded by Raj Matharu, 61, Harpal Matharu, 62, and Tony Matharu 58, and their portfolio comprises 1,345 central London rooms, with around 930,000 square feet of real estate.

Much of the Matharus’ portfolio is in and around central London and at major tourist hubs. The family also have hotels in the Bloomsbury area of the capital.  Following the transaction, Grange Hotels will own and operate 13 hotels, primarily in central London.

Queensgate has an agreement with Fattal Hotel Group, a £1.71bn hospitality company with 200 hotels across 18 countries, to run the assets. 

Fattal Group will implement a refurbishment plan and pursue a new growth strategy, increasing its London portfolio to a total of seven hotels and 2,000 rooms.

Queensgate secured a fully underwritten debt facility from Société Générale, The Carlyle Group and Cheyne Capital Management for the transaction.

David Fattal, chief executive of Fattal Hotel Group said: "…..the four hotels will undergo an extensive renovation plan and will be flagged by our Leonardo Royal and NYX brands..."

A spokesman for Grange Hotels said: "We are delighted with the outcome of the transaction. We acquired, developed and constructed the portfolio over a period of 20 years. The four hotels give the purchaser immediate scale in excellent locations, in one of the most highly sought-after and dynamic markets in the world."

Brown Rudnick and EY advised Queensgate. HFF Securities acted as exclusive financial adviser to Grange.