UK hotel chain will be bought for $900 million

One of the largest investment funds of the world - Blackstone Group LP Company - will pay £ 600 million (more than 900 million dollars) for the controlling stake in British hotel chain Mint Hotels.

Mint Hotels brand is now represented by 7 hotels in such UK cities as London, Bristol, Manchester, Glasgow, Leeds, Birmingham and Westminster. In addition, the company has recently introduced the first hotel outside the Albion in Amsterdam.

Mint Hotels brand is owned by the City Inn Company, which main stake is in turn owned by the British banking group Lloyds Banking Group.

Mint Hotels is a hotel chain, which offers its services in the centers of the British cities. The company's strategy is to create four-star hotels, which primary feature will be their advantageous location.

One of the reasons for sale of Mint Hotels is it unprofitability. Thus, in 2010 Mint Hotels lost 24.5 million pounds. The main reason for the company loss was two newest hotels of the network. Construction of the Tower of London hotel for 580 rooms cost the company 150 million pounds, while creation of the hotel in Amsterdam for 550 numbers - 135 million pounds.

It is worth noting that in early 2011 when discussing the sale of the network in a number of British media was mentioned the sum of 550 million pounds. Thus, the information on the possible amount of the transaction was published by The Telegraph. At that time the total amount of the company's debts was amounted to 500 million pounds.

Already now we can say that after the sale of Mint Hotels to the Blackstone Group LP investment fund hotels will be rebranded. Currently, Blackstone Group LP is the owner of one of the largest hotel companies in the world - Hilton Hotels Corporation. So, Mint Hotels will receive one of the brands from the Hilton portfolio. As noted by bloomberg.com, the new brands of the network will be Double Tree by Hilton and Hilton Garden Inn.