Travelodge has raised a £100m fund for the acquisition of struggling hotels.
Travelodge is in a joint venture with Megharj, an Anglo-Indian property fund manager, to purchase around 15 hotels, which will be leased to the UK budget hotelier.
Travelodge and Megharj will invest £500k each of equity, and will look to raise a further £40m of equity and £60m of debt.
Through the hotel acquisitions, Travelodge will be able to expand without the delay of building planning, and construction.
Paul Harvey director of Travelodge has said that owners and administrators had been in contact with a view to selling various distressed hotels as going concerns, since last year. Travelodge is now able to begin such purchases, due to some heavy discounting.
Travelodge is one of the largest budget hotel operators in Britain and runs 380 properties. It plans to increase its numbers of hotels to 1,000 over the next decade, with a focus on Oxford, Canterbury and London boroughs, among other locations where there are few construction opportunities.
