Arc & Co. structured the loan with an affiliate of Lone Star Real Estate Fund VI. Loan Star has provided a new debt facility in excess of £100m to Ability Hotels to support the re-financing of 4 Hilton Hotels:; Hilton Liverpool, Hilton Dunblane Scotland, Hilton London Syon Park, and Luton Hampton by Hilton.
The Ability Group, headed up by Chairman & CEO Andreas Panayiotou, formed in 1996, have built up a significant presence within the UK and European property markets, across the Residentialresidential, Commercial commercial and Hotel hotel sectors. Ability Group have an existing portfolio of 14 hotels in the UK.
For Lone Star, a leading private equity firm, Tthe transaction represents for Lone Star an opportunity new strategy to enter into the lending market for the UK hospitality sector, providing new liquidity to Hhotel owners in order to support their recovery from the pandemic.
Edward Horn-Smith, Managing Director at Arc & Co. commented:
“We have seen a recent wave of liquidity from private equity funds and investment banks, who are well positioned with strong appetite to fund operational commercial assets. These funds are plugging the gap of typical bank lenders who have fallen short of the mark. This is the first of several large commercial loans we expect to execute in Q3 and Q4 this year.”