Acquisition movement prompts reshuffle in London hotel market

The future of the upmarket London hotel sector looks set for a bit of a rethink after the Barclay brothers, who own the Telegraph, confirmed that they have sold their stake in Coroin.

Sir Frederick and Sir David Barclay bought a 64 per cent interest in Coroin, which owns some of the most prestigious hotels in the city, back in 2011.

Reports in the Guardian indicate that the pair have now decided that the time is right to abandon their plan to extend their control of the sector and have sold their stake to Qatar's Constellation Hotels for an undisclosed sum.

Richard Faver, a senior executive in the Barclays business empire and the former son-in-law of Sir Frederick, told the paper: “We are pleased to have concluded this transaction and that [the hotels are] now majority controlled by Constellation Hotels Group.”

The Coroin group includes top five-star hotels, Claridges, the Berkeley and the Connaught.

The sale of the stake in the business has been of particular interest to the industry given the aggression with which the brothers had pursued the group back in 2011. A number of lawsuits took place around the world challenging what was seen as a 'raid' on Coroin by the brothers and questioning its legality.

Eventually it was agreed that the Barclay brothers had not breached any agreement but other aspects of the deal continued to be questioned, such as the pair's relationship with some of the shareholders.


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