French listed property giant Foncière des Régions confirmed on Tuesday that its hotel arm is in exclusive negotiations to acquire a portfolio of 14 four and five star hotels across the UK from Starwood Capital.
The portfolio, operating under the name of Principal Hotel Company, provides a total of 2,626 rooms and includes 13 assets already operational and one currently under development.
Nine hotels are located in England (Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Oxford, Wotton and York), four in Scotland (Edinburgh, Glasgow), and one in Wales (Cardiff).
'Depending on how quickly discussions move forward, the transaction could be finalised by the end of the first half of 2018,' FdR said in a statement.
FdR first announced in 2014 that it was planning to expand its hotel activities across Europe. It has already completed acquisitions in Germany and Belgium.
Originally launched in 2006, Principal was bought by Starwood in 2013 from Lloyds for £360 mln and subsequently split into two groups, Principal, including the luxury city-centre hotels, and De Vere, comprising the country estate assets.
Starwood is believed to have appointed UBS in late 2017 to advise on the sale of both Principal and De Vere, said to be worth a total of over £1.2 bn.
