Cameron House owners in talks over sale of hotel chain

THE company behind some of Britain's ritziest hotels, including Cameron House by Loch Lomond, has begun preliminary talks with property advisers on potentially selling all or part of the group.

Alternative Hotels Group, which is 50 per cent owned by Lloyds after the bank acquired HBOS, is said to be considering selling the group for roughly 800 million or cherry-picking some of the portfolio for disposal.

Other prestigious properties owned by the group are Slaley Hall in Northumberland and Dunstan Hall in Norfolk.

AHG, which turns over 450m a year, concluded a debt restructuring with Bank of Scotland in March.

A Lloyds spokesman declined to comment yesterday, while AHG was unavailable for comment.

The hotel group's management - led by chairman Andrew Coppel, who formerly ran Queens Moat Houses for ten years from the mid 1990s, and chief executive Richard Balfour-Lynn - own the other 50 per cent of AHG.

It is understood that any asset sale remains at a very early stage, with no investment bank advisor to any process yet appointed.

AHG's portfolio includes brands such as Hotel du Vin, Malmaison, De Vere Hotels, Greens Health and Fitness and G&J Greenalls, as well as the 78-bedroom Barony Castle Hotel, near Peebles.