20 Jan 2010
LG advises leading leisure company on sale and leaseback of Premier Inn Hotels
International business law firm Lawrence Graham LLP ("LG") has advised Whitbread Group Plc ("Whitbread") on the sale and leaseback of five Premier Inn Hotels. The hotels were purchased and leasebacked to Premier Inn Limited by an off shore Guernsey Unit Trust set up by The M&G Secured Property Income Fund.
LG advised on all aspects of the transaction for Whitbread, which is the largest hotel and restaurant company operating market leading business in the budget hotels and restaurant sectors.
The LG team was led by joint head of Real Estate Rabinder Chaggar and comprised of real estate partner Myles Kiely and real estate solicitors Tony List, Rebecca Treharne, Alison Peters and Duncan Maclaurin. Solicitors Jonathan Legg (tax), Janie Atkins (construction) and partner Stephen Turnbull (planning and highways) were also involved.
Rabinder said: "We were pleased to act on behalf of Whitbread on this transaction. The sale and yield exceeded client expectations. This high profile deal enabled the Company to unlock value from part of its existing portfolio while maintaining operational capabilities at each of the relevant hotels with appropriate flexibility. The market response has been positive to this deal underlining as it does Whitbread's successful strategy and objectives. The deal was put together in relatively tight time constraints having exchanged within two weeks of the parties agreeing heads of terms due to the excellent working partnership between the external advisors and the Whitbread management/in-house legal teams."
Mark Anderson, Commercial and Property Director at Whitbread Hotels & Restaurants said: "We were very pleased with the outcome of this transaction which secured both capital and operational strategic objectives for our portfolio. We were delighted with the performance of the LG team in securing a speedy exchange and completion of this matter."
Notes to editors:
- LG provides high quality practical and commercial advice at all stages of the process of creating and dealing with real estate assets in the UK and internationally
- Whitbread's brands include Premier Inn, Beefeater, Table Table, Brewers Fayre, Taybarns and Costa Coffee