Malmaison owner plans sale and leaseback on Aberdeen hotel

The hotel operator, which completed sale and leaseback deals on four of its hotels last month, is hoping to sell the 80-bedroom hotel in Aberdeen to CIP Property and then lease it back for an annual rent of £1.2m over a lease term of 35 years.

If approved by shareholders, the deal will help Malmaison reduce its debts, which amounted to £272m on 31 December 2010. The move is not expected to have any impact on the operation of the hotel.

MWB chief executive Richard Balfour-Lynn said: "This fifth sale and leaseback is enabling us to reduce Malmaison's debt by more than £100m which, in today's market we regard as extremely beneficial. At the same time we are achieving our goal of maintaining a high proportion of freeholds within the portfolio of approximately 80 per cent (by number), with the remainder made up of extremely long term operating leases."

Lynn said despite the debt levels Malmaison and its sister Hotel du Vin brand were continuing to show 'great resilience' in the current economic climate and plans were still in place to expand the business both nationally and internationally.

In an interview with BigHospitality earlier in the year, Robert Cook, chief executive of Malmaison and Hotel du Vin Group, said the company had been considering expanding into the US.

"Malmaison is in locations where we need it to be in the UK and we need to take it overseas now. I think the brand will do well in America either as a conversion brand or new build, and if we go there we'll go for secondary cities like Austin, Houston or Atlanta rather than New York or Chicago," he said.