The sale of the troubled Von Essen hotel group’s 28 properties reportedly raised less than half the group’s £295m exposure to its banks and much less than the £203m asking price for the hotels.
Sixteen months after the collapse of the group into administration, the individual properties are now all under new ownership.
Research by The Times newspaper and information from sources close to the transactions suggests the recent sale of the last two hotels, Sharrow Bay in the Lake District (£1.5m) and Ston Easton Park near Bath (£3m), to Hamilton Bradshaw (private equity firm of Dragon’s Den presenter James Caan) took total proceeds to £144.5m. Both these final properties were originally put on the market for £5m each.
Ernst & Young has yet to complete the final creditors’ report, but the amount realised from the disposals falls far short of the £295m of debt and interest-rate hedges owed to Barclays and Lloyds banks.
The portfolio built up by Andrew Davis over a 15-year period included some of Britain’s finest country house hotels, but Jeremy Hill, Head of Hotels at Christie’s estate agents appointed by the administrators, said Davies had got “carried away and started buying places that were far too small”.
Many of the properties require significant investment.
Full details of the fate of all the former Von Essen properties can be found on the Caterer and Hotelkeeper website.
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