Blackstone Group, the world’s largest buyout company, has paid £600m for the UK Mint Hotels brand. The rebrand from City Inn was completed last November.
Blackstone agreed to buy City Inn Ltd, the owner and operator of the eight four-star hotels (seven in the UK and one in Amsterdam), from the group’s founders and Lloyds’s property investment unit Uberior Ventures.
City Inn’s net debt, according to City analysts had risen to £417m and the company filed a £24.5 loss for the 12 months to March.
Blackstone owns the Hilton International chain and is said to want to reposition the Mint hotels within its Double Tree by Hilton and Hilton Garden Inn brands.
The deal was financed with a £300m senior loan from Deutsche Bank AG and £80m pounds of junior debt provided by Duet Real Estate Finance, according to sources close to the transaction.
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