Deadline for Von Essen hotel bids few days away

Prospective buyers for any of the Von Essen portfolio of hotels have just a few days left to register their initial bids.

Christie & Co, which is marketing the 26 hotels in the UK, one in France and a development opportunity on a Welsh island, said that offers need to be registered by Tuesday 12 July.

The property agent, which is acting on behalf of administrators Ernst & Young, has now received inquiries from interested parties "well in excess" of the 200 inquiries it confirmed four weeks ago.

Bids for the groups as a whole, for a price in excess of £200m, are being invited as well as offers for the individual properties. The most expensive are Cliveden in Taplow, Berkshire, at £35m and the Royal Crescent in Bath at £22.5m.

Christie & Co will not reveal any of the prospective bidders, but hotel groups and wealthy individuals who could be in the frame include Hand Picked Hotels, Orient-Express Hotels and Andrew Brownsword, owner of Gidleigh Park and the Bath Priory hotels.

The most unusual part of the Von Essen portfolio is Thorn Island Fort, a Grade II-listed Napoleonic fort situated on an island off the Pembrokeshire coast. Andrew Davis, the former owner of Von Essen, had intended to turn it into a luxury hotel.

The two-acre site is being sold, with two deep-water moorings, as a development opportunity, for £750,000.

Von Essen went into administration in April, with debts of more than £250m, after defaulting on its loans.

Von Essen woes highlight struggle of regional hotels >>

Von Essen hotels ion the market >>

Cliveden tops the price tag on Von Essen hotels >>

By Janet Harmer

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