The acquisition of Travelodge, the UK's fastest growing hotel company, has today been completed by Dubai International Capital ("DIC"), a private equity firm, for a consideration of £675 million from the Permira Funds.
Travelodge operates 291 hotels, with 279 in the UK, nine in Ireland and three in Spain. The budget chain's aggressive UK growth strategy is on track to deliver a total of 32,000 UK rooms in the next five years. Travelodge aims to be the biggest budget operator in London by the 2012 Olympics with over 7,000 rooms in the Capital.
Keith Hamill (Chairman), Grant Hearn (Chief Executive), Guy Parsons (Chief Operating Officer) and Jon Mortimore (Finance Director) have confirmed that they will remain with business.
Grant Hearn, Travelodge Chief Executive, said;
"We are delighted that the transaction is now complete and we can press on with our low price hotel revolution. We are really looking forward to working with DIC, who will provide the fuel for our ambitious growth and enable us to remain the leading budget brand in the hotel industry."
Sameer Al Ansari, Chief Executive Officer of Dubai International Capital, said:
"We are delighted to have successfully completed the acquisition of Travelodge. It is a strong brand with good growth potential, it has immense development potential in the UK market, and we are confident that it will give us an excellent return on our investment."
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Notes to editors:
About Travelodge
Travelodge was the first budget hotel brand to launch in UK. In 1985, Forte-owned Travelodge opened its first hotel on the A38, North of Lichfield, before developing another six roadside hotels in its first year. Travelodge was acquired by Permira in February 2003, and its sale to DIC was completed September 2006. Travelodge employs 4,700 staff. Travelodge has 40 hotel openings planned in the UK this year including Manchester, Birmingham and London Stanstead Airport.
About Dubai International Capital
Established in 2004, Dubai International Capital LLC. DIC is a Dubai based international investment company that primarily focuses on private equity. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Dubai Holding, a large and diversified group that operates in the fields of healthcare, technology, finance, real estate, research, education, tourism, energy and communications. UK investments include the £800 million acquisition of Tussauds Group and the £700 million acquisition of the Doncasters Group Limited.