Property investment company Arora Family Trust has bought nine hotels from Airport Hotels Unit Trust (AHUT) for more than £300m.
The properties include the Hilton and Renaissance hotels at Heathrow, the Hilton, the Sofitel, the Premier Travel Inn and Renaissance hotels at Gatwick, in addition to the Radisson SAS, Express by Holiday Inn and Hilton hotels at Stansted.
The deal, which completed at midnight on Tuesday, will see BAA Lynton, which manages AHUT, continue to run the properties.
Surinder Arora, whose family is the beneficiary of the Arora Family Trust, said: “It gives us a warm feeling to think that we are now the owners of more than 5,500 hotel bedrooms in the country.”
John O’Halloran, managing director of BAA Lynton, said: “The acquisition demonstrates both the quality of the fund’s portfolio and BAA Lynton as managers.”
Property group Topland is understood to also have been in the running.
Surinder Arora is chairman of Arora Holdings, which was recently awarded the contract to build and operate the new £180m, 600-bedroom five-star hotel at Heathrow’s Terminal Five, which it will manage under a Sofitel franchise.
By Tom Bill
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