Grand hotel in Brighton on sale for £50m

The Grand hotel in Brighton is for sale for about £50 million, according to a report in The Times today (Saturday 23 November).

The hotel, in King’s Road, Brighton, was put up for sale by the De Vere Group, which is controlled by the Lloyds Banking Group.

The hotel company was reported by the Financial Times (FT) earlier this year to have debts of £1.1 billion which are owed to Lloyds.

The state-controlled bank inherited the debts in 2009, when they totalled £1.8 billion, on taking over HBoS, which was formed from the merger of Halifax and the Bank of Scotland.

The FT reported in October last year that De Vere intended to sell the Grand after a refurbishment. The company has since spent more than £5 million on the listed hotel, putting in a spa which opened in May and upgrading the fitness centre.

The Grand is being sold through the specialist property agent Christie and Co which is also trying to sell the St Christopher’s Inn hostel and bar on Brighton seafront for £2.7 million.

De Vere is also close to finalising the sale of De Vere Venues, its conference and training division, to Starwood Capital for about £230 million, according to The Times today.

When the division was being prepared for sale, the FT said that De Vere wanted £350 million for the business.

The five-star Grand has 201 rooms. It was built in 1864 and bombed by the IRA in 1984 in an attempt to assassinate the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher during the Conservative Party conference.