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Blackstone Buys a Chain of Mint Hotels in the UK

It is reported that Blackstone Group has just acquired City Inn Ltd., the owner of 8 Mint Hotels in the UK. The sum of the deal estimates 600 million of UK pounds (approximately US$947 million). Blackstone has also some plans concerning the change of the managing organization. Some sources say Hilton will add at least two hotels to its Double Tree by Hilton portfolio.

Mint Hotels was formed in 1995. The main concept of the brand was “a city inn type accommodation”. Seven hotels of the company are located in the UK. Among them are 2 hotels in London. In the beginning of 2011 the company also opened a hotel in Amsterdam. All hotels are located in mostly newly built buildings with good location. Guests are offered modern and high quality accommodations, top notch service, good value and various technical innovations. Each room in Mint Hotels is equipped with free Wi-Fi Internet access and iMacs.

The company was put up for sale in the beginning of this year by Lloyds Banking Group. This was the result the rising debt of the company – only in March 2011 Mint Hotels’ debt increased by US$38.7 million and reached US$658 million.

According to the information provided by Bloomberg, this purchase is partially financed by Deutsche Bank AG and Duet Real Estate Finance. The investments of both companies estimate US$472 million and US$126 million respectively.

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