Bowling Green Asset Management (BGAM) is announcing its second branded hotel acquisition of 2017, a luxury 103-room Holiday Inn, located close to Salisbury and Stonehenge, for £12.5 million, reflecting a net initial yield of 9.25%.
The property has been sold by Colliers International’s Hotels Agency team on behalf of the off-shore based Fiesta Enterprises Limited. It is located situated six miles from the Stonehenge UNESCO world heritage site and benefits from newly refurbished accommodation and the acclaimed onsite Solstice Bar and Grill. BGAM will be looking at various asset management opportunities on site, whilst continuing the good work of the previous owner.
BGAM will also be keeping the current senior management team, as well as all existing employees.
BGAM directors (Jamie Levy & Nicholas Rubin) said: “This hotel has been a target of ours for some time, so we are pleased to complete the purchase. The hotel has been run on a sound footing previously and we have no intention of upsetting the applecart. Many of the staff have been with the hotel for a number of years and we hope they remain with us for the foreseeable future. We will be looking to expand the hotel offerings, along with continuing the hunt for potential acquisitions”.
The interest expressed follows a pattern of increasing demand for UK provincial hotels, particularly for global branded stock. We are seeing an emerging trend of increased demand for quality provincial hotel opportunities from a diverse buyer set, including international investors, who have been attracted by weaker sterling; and from private buyers, attracted to the benefits of a lifestyle opportunity, to corporate investors attracted to favourable returns and real estate alternatives. Since the beginning of 2016, over 20 per cent of UK hotel sales completed by Colliers were to international buyers.
“This is a great end to the year and we are looking forward to an improving level of hotel transactional activity in 2018”
