Robert Forman

The six hotels are located across Scotland, in Dunfermline, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Perth.

As a result of the purchase, the Atlas portfolio now comprises 60 UK sites with over 7,400 bedrooms. This latest acquisition reflects Atlas Hotels’ ambitious growth strategy to become the leading multi-brand platform for select service hotels in the UK. It follows Burges Salmon advising the group on a number of other hotel transactions in the last 12 months, including the acquisition of the 109-bedroom Hampton by Hilton in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter and a 239-bedroom Holiday Inn Express in Snow Hill, Birmingham.

Atlas Hotels, owned by London and Regional hotels (L+R), is the largest franchisee of Holiday Inn Express hotels in the UK and Europe. Since L+R acquired the chain in 2016, Atlas Hotels has grown from strength to strength. Progress has been driven through individual acquisitions as well as ground-up developments.

Neil Kirk, L+R’s chief operating officer, said: “It was a pleasure to partner with Burges Salmon again on another important transaction for our business. We value their expert advice and ability to assist in executing these strategic transactions.”

The Burges Salmon team advising on the deal was led by Edinburgh-based Real Estate partner Robert Forman, with support from Claire MacLean and members of the firm’s Corporate Finance team including partner Danny Lee, associate Niall Mackle, director Joanna Monaghan and solicitor Benjamin Edwards.

Robert Forman commented: “Atlas Hotels’ decision to acquire the Chardon Group reflects its ambitious growth strategy and we are proud to have been a part of that, helping to advise Atlas on all legal aspects of the acquisition.”