LaSalle Investment Management and Starboard Hotels have acquired seven UK hotels from Ares real estate funds and EQ Group for an undisclosed sum.
The seven hotels – which comprise a total of 913 bedrooms – are the ibis Birmingham New Street, Novotel Birmingham Centre, Novotel Sheffield Centre, ibis Luton Airport, ibis Southampton Centre, Novotel Southampton and ibis London Barking.
The hotels will be managed by Starboard under existing Accor franchise agreements, bringing the total number of Accor hotels managed by Starboard to 15.
“This is a first private equity joint venture transaction for us and we are very excited to be working in partnership with LaSalle to bring this established portfolio into our hotel family,” said Frazer Callingham, managing director of Starboard.
“We expect the portfolio to bring operational efficiencies across our estate, and it is exciting to be a part of both new cities and brands with great potential to grow and improve.”
Starboard, established in 2005, now has a UK portfolio of 28 hotels.
Leif Skogland, vice-president, value-add investments, Europe, at LaSalle Investment Management, said he expected opportunities to further expand the joint venture “will arise across the UK”.
Hussein Sunderji, managing director and partner at EQ Group, said the sale marked the group’s exit from a hotel portfolio acquired for £400m from Landsec in 2024.
He added; “EQ Hotels are delighted to complete the sale of the portfolio to Starboard and LaSalle and look forward to seeing these well-located regional hotels’ continued growth under their ownership.”
Kerr Young, head of UK national hotel transactions, capital markets, at JLL, who alongside Christie & Co represented the vendors, said: “Completing this transaction highlights the underlying liquidity in the UK hospitality market and signals a buoyant outlook for regional portfolio activity moving forward.”
