Chain's freshly minted overseas hotel a first

Mint Hotel, formerly founded as City Inn by Sandy Orr, his son David Orr and Donald McDonald, revealed it had opened in Amsterdam, creating more than 250 jobs.

The group said the opening of the first overseas property was a "significant milestone", one which was flagged when it opened its second London hotel, near the Tower of London, last December.

With the opening of the Tower of London Hotel and Mint Hotel Amsterdam, the business now operates 2,783 bedrooms of which almost half have been added in the past year, creating over 500 new jobs.

David Orr, Mint Hotel's chief executive, said: "This opening in the heart of Amsterdam is an exciting development in our history. It follows our successful rebranding in November 2010."

The chain is a four-star offering aimed mainly at business clientele.

The company also said yesterday that it had traded well in the year to date, and that David Shearer was joining the board as a non-executive director.

It was recently revealed that three bidders have emerged for Mint Hotel. They are US private equity giant Blackstone, property investor London & Regional, and a joint venture between Goldman Sachs Whitehall Fund and another US private equity group, TPG Capital.