UK's Mint Hotel Group acquired by Blackstone

The eight-strong hotel group Mint Hotels has been acquired by investment giant Blackstone in a £600 million deal.

The UK-based hotel group’s eight premises – which include its most recently opened hotel in Amsterdam – are all tipped to be rebranded and relaunched under the Hilton name.

The commercial premises will also now be operated under a management contract, forming a section of Blackstone’s Hilton Worldwide business.

In the short term, Mint Hotels - which was formerly called City Inn - will be known as Mint by Hilton.

The hotel group was founded in 1995 and opened its first hotel in 1999 in Bristol, receiving partial funding from Uberior Ventures – a Lloyds Banking Group subsidiary – in order to do so. It now comprises seven UK-based hotels, located in Westminster, Tower of London, Leeds, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow and Bristol, plus the Amsterdam hotel.

Blackstone are believed to have made the acquisition using finance from Deutsche Bank and Duet Real Estate Finance, along with £230 million of its own equity.

Chief executive and co‐founder of Mint Hotels, David Orr, told Big Hospitality, “After nearly 16 years spent building Mint into the brand that it now is, a transaction has been agreed that gives the business a new future."

“In Blackstone, the business now has a global investor with a strong and expansive track record in the hospitality sector. We feel confident that they will continue to manage the hotels in a manner that is true to its business identity,” he added.

All of Mint Hotels’ 1,500 staff members will keep their jobs following the acquisition.

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