Akkeron Group, the company formed last year by James Brent, the former global head of real estate & lodging at Citigroup, today launched a regional hotel group with the acquisition of the Folio hotel business.
Akkeron Hotels is owned by Brent and Colin Johnston, who heads a group of companies under the name Clear and owns the freehold of four of the hotels let to Folio.
Folio was set up four years ago and built a chain of 36 hotels before the recession struck. It collapsed a year ago and was bought out of administration in January with 19 leasehold hotels. However, a subsequent deterioration in trading led the management to ask landlords for a cut in rents. The owners of eight of the hotels agreed, and these are the ones, together with the Folio name and management, that have been acquired by Akkeron.
The eight leasehold hotels are Makeney Hall in Belper, Derbyshire; Buckerell Lodge in Exeter, the Yorkshire Hotel in Harrogate; the Isles of Glencoe Hotel in Glencoe; the Caledonian Hotel in Oban; the Richmond Gate Hotel and the Cedars Health & Leisure Club, both in Richmond-upon-Thames; and the Harte and Garter in Windsor.
Akkeron intends to build a portfolio of up to 150 regional hotels across the UK. These will comprise a mix of ownership, leases and management contracts.
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