NEWS & VIEWS

Starwood Capital pays £232m for UK hotel and conference chain De Vere Venues

Global real estate investor Starwood Capital has paid £232m for UK hotel and conference centre operator De Vere Venues from De Vere Group.

The company’s portfolio of 23 hotels are mainly based around the Greater London area, and boast 374 meeting rooms and 414,000 square feet of meeting space.

Starwood senior vice president Kevin Colket said, “We are very pleased to add De Vere Venues to our growing portfolio of attractive and well-placed assets in the United Kingdom.

“The company serves a number of long-term, blue-chip corporate customers, and we look forward to building upon its reputation for operational excellence.”

Earlier this year Starwood held a final close of $983m on its Starwood Energy Infrastructure Fund (SEIF) II, exceeding its $750m target and nearly reaching the $1bn hard cap.

The fund, which was on the road for 12 months, will invest in wind, solar, natural gas and other power generation and high-voltage transmission assets, focusing in North America.

It was backed by sovereign funds, pension plans, funds of funds, insurance companies and other institutional investors.

SEIF II follows a $433m energy infrastructure fund closed in June 2008, which has so far received distributions of $287m, the firm said in a statement.

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