Starwood Capital Group, a leading global private investment firm, has acquired, through a controlled affiliate, U.K. hotel and conference centre operator De Vere Venues from the De Vere Group for approximately $385 million (£232 million).
The transaction includes a high-quality collection of 23 owned and leased hotels comprising 2,433 keys, 374 meeting rooms and 414,000 square feet of meeting space, predominately located in Greater London. The portfolio also includes nine management and franchise contracts.
“We are very pleased to add De Vere Venues to our growing portfolio of attractive and well-placed assets in the United Kingdom,” said Kevin Colket, Senior Vice President at Starwood Capital Group. “The company serves a number of long-term, blue-chip corporate customers, and we look forward to building upon its reputation for operational excellence.”
De Vere Venues’ portfolio includes a number of impressive properties, including:
- Wokefield Park: A 376-room freehold property composed of a main building (circa 1850) and a separate facility built by BMW, located between London and Reading.
- Horsley Park: A 180-room freehold property comprising a castle (circa 1820) and a farm converted into meeting space, located southwest of London
- Latimer Place: A 197-room freehold property spread across three buildings, including a 15(th) century mansion, located northwest of London.
- Theobalds Park: A 140-room freehold property–including an 18(th)-century manor house–set on 55 acres of grounds, located north of London.
- Staverton Park: A 247-room property comprising a conference centre with bedrooms, a leisure centre and clubhouse, and an 18-hole golf course, located between London and Birmingham
- Milton Hill: A 121-room freehold property comprising an 18(th)-century manor house set on 22 acres of grounds, located south of Oxford Royal Bank of Scotland Plc. and Barclays Bank provided a $232 million (£140 million) facility to assist Starwood Capital Group in the acquisition.
With the acquisition of the 23-hotel Principal Hayley Group in February 2013, the five-property Four Pillars Hotels portfolio in January 2014 and this purchase of De Vere Venues, Starwood Capital Group has invested approximately $1.16 billion (£700 million) in the U.K. hospitality sector over the past 13 months.
Starwood Capital Group www.starwoodcapital.com