Rocco Forte Hotels and Bank of Scotland Complete Brown's JV

The Rocco Forte Collection and Bank of Scotland yesterday completed the purchase of Brown's Hotel in London's Mayfair, together with a £134 million financing package of equity and loans for their joint venture. This also sees the Hotel Amigo in Brussels join The Lowry Hotel in the joint venture's portfolio. The transactions involved are:

  • Sir Rocco Forte & Family plc has sold 100% of the Hotel Amigo in Brussels to Sir Rocco Forte & Family (Luxury Hotels) Ltd, the 50 / 50 joint venture company established between Sir Rocco's company and Bank of Scotland in June 2001. The purchase price is £33 million

  • The joint venture has also bought Brown's Hotel in London from Raffles Holdings Ltd for £51.5 million
The funding for these transactions is as follows:
  • The partners in the joint venture have subscribed an additional £14.4 million of equity, bringing the total equity in the joint venture to £18.4 million, together with £20 million of loan stock

  • The joint venture has also taken out a £96 million loan facility from Bank of Scotland to support the purchase of both hotels, the refurbishment of Brown's during 2004 and to bring the debt associated with its existing hotel, The Lowry Hotel in Manchester, within the joint venture's funding group
Commenting on the transactions, Sir Rocco Forte said, 'Today we not only take over Brown's Hotel in London, but also put some real substance behind our joint venture with Bank of Scotland, which will be the main vehicle for our growth in the coming years.'

Peter Cummings, Managing Director of Corporate Banking at Bank of Scotland said, 'I am delighted that today our joint venture with Sir Rocco grows to three properties, with The Lowry Hotel in Manchester joined by properties in two of Europe's capital cities.'

The Rocco Forte Collection will manage all three hotels on behalf of the joint venture, bringing its portfolio of luxury hotels to eight properties in London, Edinburgh, Rome, Cardiff, Florence, Brussels, Manchester and St Petersburg. It also manages and part-owns the four-star Angleterre Hotel in St Petersburg.

For further information, please contact:
Richard Power at The Rocco Forte Collection: +44 (0)20 7321 2626
Mark Elliott at Bank of Scotland: +44 131 243 5572

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