Maven announces £13.75m Welsh capital hotel deal

Glasgow-based investment house Maven Capital Partners has announced the completion of a £13.75m deal to buy an empty 6,000m2 office building in Cardiff city-centre for conversion into a 100-bedroom Hotel Indigo, the boutique brand of InterContinental Hotels Group.

Cardiff is now recognised as a key UK corporate, sporting and leisure destination and last year saw the largest growth in room revenues of any major UK market apart from Glasgow with the trend expected to continue.

Funding for the project included a £5.75m equity raise from Maven’s UK-wide syndicate of investors and introducers. It is expected that investors will benefit from Business Premises Renovation Allowance (BPRA), which is intended to stimulate investment in qualifying areas across the UK, including: Glasgow, Liverpool, Newcastle and Birmingham in addition to Cardiff, by providing tax allowances for the costs of refurbishing empty commercial properties.

Ramsay Duff, Investment Director at Maven, who led the deal and has previously secured funding for several other hotel development projects, said: “We are delighted to have been able to identify, structure and complete another attractive hotel investment for our investors. These are complex projects but they can offer a compelling opportunity to invest in high quality developments.

“This is a really exciting development, in one of the fastest growing hotel markets in the UK, well located in the vibrant city centre of Cardiff and able to take advantage of the considerable tourism and leisure trade and growing commercial activity of the Welsh capital. Our UK property team will continue to use innovative ideas to structure compelling new investment opportunities for our investors.”

There are currently 60 Hotel Indigos worldwide including a Glasgow property which is already part of Maven’s portfolio.

The hotel, which is to be managed by Redefine|BDL, the UK’s largest specialist hotel management company and feature a rooftop Marco Pierre White Steakhouse Bar & Grill, will be located in close proximity to Cardiff’s central business district beside major attractions such as Cardiff Castle and the Millennium Stadium as well as principal transport links.