Le Méridien missed its Monday deadline to pay property owner Royal Bank of Scotland (RBoS) £20m in rent as talks continued to save the international hotel chain from administration.
No deal had been struck as Caterer went to press, but talks are believed to be centring on a rescue plan in which US investment bank Lehman Brothers would inject a further £150m into the chain and debt repayments to RBoS would be restructured.
Should the Lehman deal be accepted, Guy Hands and his investment firm Terra Firma would lose control of the beleaguered hotel chain.
RBoS, which bought 12 of Le Méridien's hotels in a £1.2b sale-and-leaseback deal in 2001, would take control of the properties. Lehman is the biggest holder of second-level debt, so stands to lose the most should Le Méridien be pushed into administration.
It is understood all parties are keen to rescue the ailing hotel group, which was recently voted the strongest global hotel brand in a Carlson Marketing Group survey.
Le Méridien, which has so far been largely financing its debt repayment through property sales, completed the sale of another two non-core former Principal hotels this week. The chain has now sold eight non-core UK properties this year.
The 363-room Norbreck Castle on Queen's Promenade in Blackpool was sold to Britannia Hotels for £6m.
Earlier this month, the 50-bedroom Gold hotel in Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire, was sold for about £1m. Both properties were sold by property agent ATIS REAL Weatheralls.