Three private equity firms — Cinven, EQT, and Permira — are among the bidders in the £600 million auction of Scandic Hotels, the Scandinavian chain put up for sale in the summer by Hilton Hotels Corp (HHC), of the United States.
EQT, the Wallenberg family’s Stockholm-based private equity vehicle, is one of several Nordic firms interested in Scandic. It recently bought Select Service Partner from Compass, the caterer. Also tipped is Ratos, which led the financial consortium that acquired Scandic in 1983 and retained a 25 per cent stake until its sale to Hilton Group in 2001.
HHC acquired Scandic in February as part of the £3.3 billion takeover of Hilton Group’s hotel arm — a deal that reunited the Hilton brand worldwide. The mid-market Scandic chain, which is being sold by Citigroup, has 130 hotels with 23,000 rooms.