REGAL Hotel Group has formed a partnership with finance company Intermediate Capital Group to buy County Hotels for ú42.5m.
County was created in February 1997 after a three-man team, backed by Hambro European Ventures, bought 25 hotels from Queens Moat Houses for ú91.8m.
Now Regal and ICG have bought out the group, acquiring its ú73m debts. With County’s cash balances currently standing at ú7.7m, this brings the cost of the deal to ú107.8m.
Regal has signed a management contract with County to operate the chain and will get 20% of the hotels’ operating profit.
A Regal spokeswoman said it will eventually rebrand the County hotels under its new Corus brand, launched last November. The first 17 of Regal’s 91 properties will be rebranded in March.
n Jurys Hotel Group is negotiating to buy Irish rival Doyle Hotels for an undisclosed sum. Jurys owns 17 hotels and inns across Ireland and the UK, while Doyle Hotels has 10 properties in Dublin, London and Washington DC.