Donald Macdonald, the chief executive, said it was unlikely the Bathgate-based company would take its hotel business out of Britain, but added: “We could grow the resort business overseas.” Macdonald has four timeshare resorts in Spain.
“The resort business is much less capital intensive than the hotel business,” he said. “We’d probably do it with a partner.”
The Macdonald 260p offer values the firm at £157m and is part of a deal between Macdonald and Bank of Scotland in which the bank will arrange about £600m in financing.
The resulting structure will mean that Bank of Scotland will own 50% of Skye Leisure Ventures, the joint venture. Macdonald’s advisers claimed the deal would be one of Scotland’s biggest ever public to private deals. “This is a huge deal for any bank,” said Macdonald.