Thames Valley: Wokefield Park sold in Starwood Capital acquisition of De Vere Venues

Starwood Capital Group has completed its second major UK hotel deal of the year, after acquiring De Vere Venues from De Vere Group for £231 million.

The deal, which was completed on Monday, means Starwood Capital takes on a portfolio of 23 owned and leased hotels with 2,433 rooms, 374 meeting rooms and 414,000 sq ft of meeting space, most of which is in central London.

It follows Starwood Capital's £90m purchase of Oxordshire-based Four Pillars Hotels in January - a deal that involved hotels in Oxford, Abingdon and Witney.

In a statement, Kevin Colket, senior vice president at Starwood Capital Group, said: “We are very pleased to add De Vere Venues to our growing portfolio of attractive and well-placed assets in the United Kingdom. The company serves a number of long-term, blue-chip corporate customers, and we look forward to building upon its reputation for operational excellence.”

The De Vere Venues portfolio includes:

• Wokefield Park: A 376-room freehold property comprising a main building (circa 1850) and a separate facility built by BMW, located near Reading
• Horsley Park: A 180-room freehold property comprising a castle (circa 1820) and a farm converted into meeting space
• Latimer Place: A 197-room freehold property spread across three buildings, including a 15th century mansion
• Theobalds Park: A 140-room freehold property, including an 18th century manor house, set in 55 acres of grounds
• Staverton Park: A 247-room property comprising a conference centre with bedrooms, a leisure centre and clubhouse, and an 18-hole golf course
• Milton Hill: A 121-room freehold property comprising an 18th-century manor house set on 22 acres of grounds, located south of Oxford.

Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays Bank provided a £140m facility to assist Starwood Capital Group in the acquisition.

With the acquisition of the 23-hotel Principal Hayley Group in February 2013, the five-property Four Pillars Hotels portfolio in January 2014 and this purchase of De Vere Venues, Starwood Capital Group has invested approximately £700m in the UK hospitality sector over the past 13 months.