KSL sells Malmaison Hotel du Vin for £363m

EUROPE – More evidence of strong bounce in investment values in the UK hotel sector is illustrated by the £363m (US$507m) acquisition of boutique chain Malmaison Hotel du Vin (MHDV) by Frasers Hospitality UK Holdings, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Singapore group Frasers Centrepoint. The deal reflects a decent profit for Denver-based sellers KSL Capital Partners, which paid £180m for the brand following the collapse of MWB. The chain, founded in 1994, has grown to include 29 boutique hotels across the UK. This acquisition doubles Frasers’ offer in Europe to about 4,000 keys. Chief executive of Frasers Centrepoint Choe Peng Sum added: “With these two best-in-class lifestyle brands, we are on track to reach our goal of operating 30,000 keys by 2019”. Frasers is a serviced apartments specialist and a company statement said Hotel du Vin and Malmaison had “a tried and proven DNA in the boutique lifestyle segment”. With occupancy rising above 80% in recent years and good RevPAR, the chain was clearly a big target and posted rising turnover (up 5.1% to £119.9m) in the year to 30 June 2014. KSL spent £3m converted a hotel in St Andrews and bought Cannizaro House in Wimbledon for £19m and opened a Malmaison in Dundee.