Private Equity News & Analysis

Travelodge sold to DIC for £675m

Dubai International Capital has followed up the purchase of Doncasters for £700m in May with the acquisition of another UK asset, budget hotel chain Travelodge.

By
Robert Venes
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Dubai International Capital has followed up the purchase of Doncasters for £700m in May with the acquisition of another UK asset, budget hotel chain Travelodge.

Permira, a European buyout firm, has sold Travelodge, a UK-based budget hotel chain, to Dubai International Capital, the investment arm of Dubai Holdings, for £675 million (€992 million).
 
Dubai International Capital was advised by Citigroup and law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, which recently advised the firm on its £700 million acquisition of British engineering firm Doncasters Group in May.
 
Travelodge senior management will remain in place following completion of the transaction, which is expected in late September.
 

Travelodge: one of the group’s three budget hotels in Ireland

Permira acquired Travelodge alongside roadside restaurant business Little Chef in December 2002 for £712 million. Little Chef was sold to the People’s Restaurant Group for £52 million last October. The original investment was made from Permira Europe II, which raised €3.5 billion in 2000.

Permira declined to comment.
 
Travelodge is the UK’s second largest budget hotel group, operating 291 hotels, of which 279 are in the UK with nine in Ireland and three in Spain. Dubai International Capital said that plans for the group include expansion to be the biggest budget operator in London by the time of the London Olympics in 2012, with more than 7,000 rooms available.