Luxury hotel chains Du Vin and Malmaison were sold yesterday for £495.1 million to a new tax-efficient hotel group.
Owner Marylebone Warwick Balfour (MWB) sold the chains to Vector Hospitality, the UK's first real estate investment trust (Reit) specialising in hotels.
The Hotel du Vin and Malmaison group has 17 hotels across the Britain renowned for their upmarket bistro food, wines and accommodation.
One stands in Brighton's Ship Street.
The brands will form part of Vector's network of 71 British hotels, owned by the group and run by operators including Hilton, Marriott and Thistle under a sale and lease-back scheme.
Vector is looking to raise £2 billion by attracting investors to its hotel portfolio through listing on the London Stock Exchange.
It will be one of the largest listed hotel owners in Britain, with its portfolio valued at £2.6 billion and containing more than 10,700 hotel rooms.
The group is the brainchild of MWB chief executive Richard Balfour-Lynn and Sir David Michels, the former head of the Hilton Group, to take advantage of the Reit structure, which passes on larger returns to shareholders free from corporation tax.
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