Saudis bid for London’s Grosvenor House Hotel
A consortium of Saudi and UK family wealth funds has launched a bid for one of London’s best-known hotels.
They have offered $1.3 billion for the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane plus majority stakes in New York’s Plaza and Dream Downtown hotels from India’s Sahara India Pariwar group.
A report in the FT suggested UK-based 3 Associates had been planning an offer for some time, but accelerated the bid after currency movements post the EU referendum benefited dollar-linked investors.
Earlier this year 3 Associates bought 1 Pall Mall East in central London for £85 million with Saudi Arabia’s Bin Mahfouz family.
The offer for the Grosvenor House might spark a bidding war, according to the Financial Times, which reported that Sahara is also in talks with Qatari investors over a potential sale.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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