De Vere Group continues offloading non-core hotels with sale of University Arms

11-Sep-2012 - Last updated on 25-Apr-2024 at 12:25 GMT

De Vere Group's 119-bedroom hotel in Cambridge city centre has been brought to the market on a freehold, unencumbered sale

Following the successful joint sale of the Royal Bath hotel in Bournemouth and the Daresbury Park Hotel in Warrington, De Vere Group is ploughing on with the offload of its non-core hotel, with the University Arms hotel in Cambridge being placed on the market.

The 119-bedroom hotel in Cambridge city centre has been brought to the market on a freehold, unencumbered sale, with property adviser Christie & Co seeking offers in excess of £20m.

“With the trading performance of the University Arms materially ahead of the same period last year and Cambridge widely viewed as an international destination, we anticipate interest in this freehold hotel to be high,” said Christie & Co’s director Jeremy Jones.

“With the potential to re-position the hotel, renowned for generations as Cambridge’s best known hotel, we anticipate a huge amount of interest.”

The hotel is situated within walking distance of the principal colleges including Peterhouse, Emmanuel and Downing College. It is unusual that the four-star property is wholly freehold and is being sold free of the current management and all De Vere branding. This will allow prospective purchasers to re-position the property under a variety of potential global hotel brands.

The De Vere Group, with annual turnover last year of £360 undertook a strategic review earlier this year,in which Andrew Coppel, the group’s chief executive, said he had identified 'development opportunities' including expansion of both the Venues and Village brands for the business.

Sold: Ramada Hemel Hempstead

Meanwhile, Christie & Co has this week sold the 137-bedroom Ramada Hemel Hempstead to Icon Hotels on behalf of the joint administrators.

The 137-bedroom property offers a ‘park, stay and fly’ package for guests using the nearby Luton Airport and is used as a wedding and conference venue.

Simon Stevens, another director at Christie & Co, added: “The hotel benefits from an excellent mix of overnight and weekend guests, and daily commercial, leisure and corporate business. The sales process attracted a number of competitive bids and we are delighted to have sold the hotel to ICON Hotels.

“ICON recognised that the interior of the property would benefit from a complete updating and modernisation and therefore plan a thorough refurbishment of bedrooms and public areas to return the hotel to its rightful status as one of the top hotels in the area.”

ICON Hotels is controlled by ESO Capital Group, a European focused special situations investment group. The brand has one other property, in Luton.