The future of Le Méridien Hotels and Resorts remains undecided as discussions continue between key stakeholders and a new player, the world's fifth-richest man, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal.
The Saudi billionaire, who owns stakes in Disneyland, Paris, and London's Canary Wharf, has expressed interest in rescuing the beleaguered hotel chain in conjunction with a consortium of other major stakeholders, Terra Firma, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBoS), Abbey National and Alchemy.
It is estimated the deal would involve an injection of about £100m into Le Méridien.
It is understood that the proposal put forward last week by secondary debt holders, Lehman Brothers, to inject a further £150m into Le Méridien and save it from administration has been accepted by RBoS, but that problems have arisen over completing the deal.
Le Méridien missed its deadline of Monday 30 June to pay rent of £20m to landlord RBoS. Since then an interim rent of £4m has been paid to the bank to buy more time for discussions and prevent the brand going into administration. The hotel group has also secured working capital from a group of lenders including Lehman to bridge the period from now until completion.
London-based Le Méridien is a global hotel group with a portfolio of more than 130 hotels in 56 countries.