Travelodge owners are preparing for £1bn sale or stock market floatation
The owners of Travelodge are preparing to sell the hotel chain for a reported £1bn or otherwise float shares, according to the Daily Telegraph.
Deutsche Bank have been appointed to advise the owners – investment bank Goldman Sachs and hedge funds Avenue Capital and GoldenTree Asset Management – on a potential sale or stock market floatation.
The budget hotel chain’s three owners are said to be looking to exit the group in the autumn. The Telegraph reports that a sale is more likely than an initial public offering, with speculation the company could entice an Asian buyer.
After the three companies purchased the hotel in 2012, when it was close to collapsing, the trio are hoping to cash in on Travelodge’s recovery.
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When chief executive Peter Gowers announced plans to sell the company in April, he told the BBC:
There's probably never been a better time to run a value hotel business than now, because the value hotel sector is huge. Britain is becoming a nation of value shoppers.
This followed an increase in annual profits, Travelodge reporting a 63.5 per cent increase in underlying profits to £66.2m in 2015 and revenues up 14.9 per cent to £497.2m in the same period.
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Gowers led the charge on a £100m modernisation programme of the hotel change, helping to bring about a change in fortunes, paving the way for new ownership.
“Our shareholders are not natural long term holders of a hotel business and they are working with Deutsche Bank to explore their options for the future,” the Travelodge boss said to the Telegraph.