London's award-winning Dukes hotel has been put up for sale with an asking price in excess of £40m.
Agent Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels is handling the sale of the 89-bedroom hotel in St James's Place. It was voted London's luxury hotel of the year by readers of the Good Hotel Guide 2004.
The hotel has planning permission to add a further 14 bedrooms, and also features three function rooms with space for as many as 170 delegates.
Owner David Naylor-Leyland, who also owns the 30-bedroom Egerton House hotel and the 47-bedroom Franklin hotel, both in nearby Knightsbridge, is understood to have wanted to sell the hotel for a number of years, but was unable to do so because of the poor hotel trading environment. He is thought to want to concentrate on other projects.
Hotel groups Orient-Express and Von Essen, and venture capitalists, are thought be likely parties to show interest in the property.
Dukes hotel's most recently filed accounts at Companies House reveal that the business turned over £6.13m in the 12 months to the end of December 2002, compared with £6.08m a year earlier. Pre-tax profit for the period was £1.5m, up by 45% on 2001.