Activities

The Le Meridien brand name, management and franchised business is owned by Starwood Hotels and Resorts.

Timeline

• 1972:  Air France founds Le Méridien in 1972 to provide accommodation for its customers. Its first hotel is the 1,000-bedroom Le Méridien Etoile in Paris. Within two years, it has grown to 10 hotels in Europe and Africa.
• 1978: The group now has 21 hotels in Europe, Africa, the Caribbean, Canada, South America, the Middle East and Mauritius.
• 1991: The portfolio has grown to 58 hotels.
• September 1994: UK hospitality giant Forte buys the 85-strong Le Méridien chain, which becomes its focus for international growth.
• 1996-2001: Granada Group buys Forte and subsequently merges with contract caterer Compass (in 2000) and then de-merges in February 2001, leaving Compass with the Forte hotel, restaurant and contract catering businesses.
• April 2000: The 125-strong Le Méridien group signs a strategic alliance with Nikko Hotels International, which is owned by Japan Airlines and has 22 properties. Within a year, Le Méridien records a 30% increase in business from Japan, its third revenue-generating market.
• May 2001: Nomura International’s Principal Finance Group buys Le Meridien from Compass for £1.9b following Marriott’s withdrawal from the auction after dropping its bid from £2.2b to £1.7b. Le Meridien merges with the 15 Principal Hotels acquired by Nomura in February 2001, adding 12 UK properties to its existing eight along with two hotels in Copenhagen and one in Amsterdam.
• June 2001: The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBoS) enters into a £1.25b sale-and-leaseback deal with Le Meridien in 2001. This involves 11 UK hotels, including London properties Grosvenor House and the Waldorf (for £440m) and the Cumberland.
• August 2001: Le Meridien extends its marketing alliance with Nikko to include another 22 hotels. 
• September 2001: The group announces Art+Tech, its new design and technology upgrade for bedrooms.
• May 2002: The group announces plans to sell six former Principal hotels, which would leave it with 17 hotels in UK and Ireland. In April, it sells two properties to Quintessential Hotels for £40m and another to the Feathers Group for around £6m. It offloads another two hotels in July 2003 for £7.5m.
• January 2003: Le Meridien kick-starts a six-hotel sale-and leaseback drive to raise £1.25b with the sale of the Le Meridien Barcelona in Germany. In April, it sells the five-star Le Méridien Ritz in Barcelona.
• April 2003: The group’s key senior bank lenders (including RBoS and US investment bank Lehman Brothers) take control after poor trading leaves Le Meridien unable to keep up with its rent payments. The group, which made a loss of £225.8 in the year to June 2002, sees its value drop to £700m and its debt soar to £1b.
• July 2003: The group faces administration as rescue bids from Guy Hands (who masterminded the Nomura takeover) and Lehman Brothers come to nothing. RBoS takes control of its 11 hotels. By December, it has sold the leases to the Waldorf (to Hilton) and Grosvenor House and the Shelbourne in Dublin (to Marriott). In January 2004, Tony Troy (former Principal boss and managing director of the UK and Ireland for Le Meridien from July 2001 to January 2003) takes leases on four former Principal hotels in London, Manchester, Leeds and York. In October, the Cumberland reopens under Thistle’s management.
• November 2003: Takeover talks between Lehman Brothers (which has a £200m stake in Le Meridien) and Hyatt Financial Corporation collapse.
• January 2004: Lehman Brothers announces plans to assume Le Meridien’s outstanding debt of $1.3b (£725m) in partnership with Starwood Capital of the US.
• April 2005: Starwood Capital and Lehman Brothers make a £700m rescue offer for the struggling, 130-strong four-star Le Meridien chain. In a separate deal, Starwood Hotels and Resorts is to assume the Le Meridien brand, along its management and franchise business, and operate the hotels.
• Late November 2005: Starwood Hotels and Resorts completes the acquisition of the Le Meridien brand, management and franchise business for $225m (£130m) while a joint venture between Starwood Capital and Lehmann Brothers buys the 32 owned and leased Le Meridien hotels.