Frasers Hospitality snaps up four hotels in UK for £36.1m

FRASERS Hospitality is rapidly extending its footprint in the UK, snapping up another portfolio of four boutique hotels just six months after acquiring a UK hotel group.

The hospitality arm of Singapore-listed Frasers Centrepoint Limited (FCL) said on Wednesday that it has acquired the four hotels through its newly formed subsidiary Malmaison and Hotel du Vin Property Holdings Limited from Swire Properties Hotels Holdings for £36.1 million (S$76.4 million).

Frasers Hospitality had in June acquired hotel group Malmaison Hotel du Vin (MHDV) for £363.4 million (S$767.3 million) , giving it immediate access to a stable of 29 upscale lifestyle boutique hotels under the brands Malmaison and Hotel du Vin.

The addition of the four hotels, to be rebranded as Malmaison and Hotel du Vin properties, will bring the total number of boutique hotels under the brands to 33, translating to 2,347 keys.

"These four stylish and iconic hotels in their respective cities are a perfect fit for Malmaison and Hotel du Vin, and this acquisition is clearly in line with the group's expansion strategy of the brands within the UK, Europe and Asia," said Frasers Hospitality CEO Choe Peng Sum.

"With these two best-in-class lifestyle brands, we are on track to achieve our goal of operating 30,000 keys (total portfolio) by 2019," he added.

Located in key cities and university towns in the UK, the four hotels will continue to operate under their existing brands until next year when development plans will be further revealed for each of the hotels.