Property investor Aprirose races to find buyer for COVID-hit QHotels
The owner of more than a dozen four-star hotels across the UK has asked PwC to find a buyer, Sky News learns.
Friday 5 March 2021 16:17, UK
A property investor which has spent hundreds of millions of pounds on buying hospitality sector assets is racing to find a new owner for QHotels, a collection of four-star properties located across the UK.
Sky News understands that Aprirose, which spent £525m acquiring QHotels in 2017, is working with advisers at PricewaterhouseCoopers to offload the business.
Prospective bidders are understood to include turnaround funds and mainstream private equity investors.
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QHotels' portfolio includes Slaley Hall in Northumberland, The Queens in Leeds, Dunston Hall in Norfolk, and Ashford International in Kent.
The company also oversees four DoubleTree by Hilton properties, two Delta by Marriott sites, and one Mercure-branded hotel.
The valuation of the business is unclear, although a number of parties which had looked at it said it required a substantial capital injection in the near term.
In accounts filed at Companies House for 2019, directors warned of uncertainty about its ability to continue as a going concern.
Hotels across Britain have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, despite various government relief schemes.
Aprirose, which also owns hundreds of pubs, was founded in the 1980s by Mansukh Gudka, its chairman.
A spokeswoman for Aprirose declined to comment on Friday.