Tue, 05 Feb 2013 | DIVISION SALE
The hotel and health club operator De Vere Group is getting ready to sell off its conference centre business De Vere Venues.
The group, which is part-controlled by Lloyds Bank is hiring advisers to help sell Britain’s biggest conference centre business in a deal expected to be worth £350 million. It is hoped the move may help boost the stagnant hotel and leisure property market.
Lloyds has recently overseen the sale of Principal Hayley, another hotel operator it was main lender to, after being on the market for six months. Hotel investor Barry Sternlicht bought the hotel group in a deal thought to be worth about £360 million. The 23 properties bought include well-known hotels such as the Russell in central London, the George in Edinburgh and St David’s in Cardiff.
Lloyds - similarly to other banks - has several leisure-related properties it will be looking to sell off over the coming months, in addition to the Principal Hayley and the De Vere conference centre business.
De Vere is among several companies with large property portfolios taken under the wing of Lloyds during the economic downturn. The bank also took on its debts of £1.1 billion.
The De Vere Group also owns several hotels, including the Grand in Brighton, and 245 De Vere Village Urban Resort health clubs. It has plans to expand the Urban Resorts business to another six to eight buildings in the next two years.
It is thought the investment bank Lazard will be brought in to manage the sale of the conference centres.
If successful the deal will be significant for the hotel and leisure market, which contracted last year. About £300 million worth of deals went through in the last six months of 2012, compared with £1 billion in the first half of 2012 and £2.5 billion for the second half of 2011.
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