MARSTON HOTELS, the family-owned hotel chain, has appointed advisers to find a buyer following the eleventh-hour collapse of negotiations with Dawnay Shore Hotels over a deal worth more than £150 million.
The Marston family, which controls 84 per cent of the company, has taken on Christie & Co, the hotel property agent, to canvass interest.
The family is believed to be hoping to fetch about £175 million for the business.
The company, originally founded as a building firm in 1895 by W.J. Marston, operates 15 hotels, including the Oxford Belfry and Crabwall Manor in Chester, and has a development site in Nottingham.
Industry sources said that talks with Dawnay Shore had fallen at the final hurdle after an attempt by the purchasers to tweak the terms.
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Although the family had not previously considered selling up, one source said that the approach from Dawnay had “let the genie out of the bottle”.
Dawnay Shore was created earlier this year by Dawnay Day and Shore Capital, the investment firms, to buy four-star hotel assets.
Its first purchase was Paramount Hotels, which it bought for £215 million from Alchemy Partners.
It is understood that the three directors of Paramount, led by Michael Purtill, managing director, have either left or are leaving the company. They are leaving to run Quintessential Hotels, which is still owned by Alchemy.