Thistle Hotels And Morrison Construction Group Form £140m Joint Venture To Develop New Propert
Thistle Hotels has announced today that it has reached agreement with Morrison Construction Group to develop and own up to ten hotels in Britain and Ireland over the next five years.
Thistle and Morrison will form a special purpose Joint Venture Company. The JV will expand Thistle`s managed hotels portfolio in the UK by developing well-designed, well managed hotels on carefully selected sites. For Morrison, the move represents a significant step forward in the company`s programme of forming strategic alliances with clients.
Target locations have been specified by Thistle, and Morrison will secure sites, obtain planning consent and provide development and construction services to the new Joint Venture Company, including design, procurement, construction and fit out. Each hotel will be purchased by the Joint Venture Company and managed by Thistle under a management agreement.
Said Ian Burke, chief executive, Thistle Hotels, “The development of new full service Thistle hotels in locations where we do not already have a presence is the logical next step in creating additional profit and value growth.”
“We`re very pleased to form a joint venture with Morrison,” continued Mr Burke. “We evaluated a number of companies in the UK property industry and chose Morrison because of its expertise in development and construction and because of its willingness to retain a long-term ownership stake.”
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Steve McBrierty, Morrison`s Group Director of Operations, said, “This Joint Venture with Thistle Hotels represents a significant opportunity for Morrison to bring its unique, quality driven approach to the hotels sector. It also demonstrates our ability to deliver on our committed strategy of growing our business through development partnerships.
“With over 30 offices throughout the UK and Ireland, we are well placed to secure attractive sites and develop high quality hotels for the Joint Venture Company. We look forward to working closely in the hotel sector with such a respected market player as Thistle.”
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