Roy Cokayne
LISTED Redefine International has finalised its acquisition of the remaining 40 percent in the 150-bedroom Holiday Inn Express Hotel in Earl’s Court in London and the 48-bedroom extension at the Southwark Holiday Inn Express.
The acquisition was done through Redefine International’s 71 percent-held subsidiary, Redefine Hotel Holdings (RHH).
RHH paid £6.3 million (R113m) to Camden Lock and Earl’s Court for the remaining shareholding in BNRI Earl’s Court it did not already own and £11.35m for the Southwark Holiday Inn Express extension.
Both hotels form part of Redefine International’s portfolio of seven hotels held through RHH. Redefine International said yesterday the Holiday Inn Express Hotel in Earl’s Court was well located close to the Earls Court Exhibition Centre and Arena and the Olympia Exhibition Centre and was trading ahead of expectations, with underlying occupancy at 86 percent for the nine-month period to the end of May.
It said the trading performance of the Southwark Holiday Inn Express extension had remained steady since the opening of the additional rooms in June, with overall occupancies and revenue per available room in line with figures for the existing 88 bedrooms.
The acquisitions were funded by using part of the proceeds from Redefine International’s recent share placement, together with further co-investment by the other investors in RHH.
Mike Watters, the chief executive of Redefine International, which has a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange and a secondary listing on the JSE, said earlier this year that the company had referred to this potential transaction during its successful £54.7m capital raise and was pleased to now be making the final steps towards deploying the capital.
“The limited service hotel sector continues to thrive in pockets of London and this, combined with our in-depth knowledge of the performance of this particular hotel and our ongoing belief in the potential of this sector, supports our confidence the transaction will deliver a high quality income to our investors,” he said.