British property investment company Marylebone Warwick Balfour (MWB) issued a short statement on Thursday to announce that the sale of its Malmaison and Hotel du Vin property portfolios is being put on hold 'as a result of the current uncertainties in the markets'.

British property investment company Marylebone Warwick Balfour (MWB) issued a short statement on Thursday to announce that the sale of its Malmaison and Hotel du Vin property portfolios is being put on hold 'as a result of the current uncertainties in the markets'.

This is the latest twist in the saga which started off as an attempt by MWB to sell the 20 hotels, valued at EUR 1 bn, to Vector Hospitality to create the first hotel real estate investment trust (REIT) in the UK. The sale fell apart in June when Vector was forced to cancel its IPO due to lack of investor interest. Mercury Real Estate Advisors, which owns just under 16% of MWB, wrote to the board to demand that the hotels be sold on the open market rather than to Vector, arguing that there was a conflict of interest given that MWB ceo Richard Balfour-Lynn was also a director of Vector.

Although MWB disputed Mercury's accusations, it appointed Bank of America to sell the hotels in July. But the current turmoil in the financial markets has hampered attempts to secure a deal. MWB said on Thursday that there were a number of potential buyers and the sale had not been abandoned completely.