Carlyle buys budget hotel chain

US private equity firm, Carlyle, has bought B&B Hotel Group for €480m from European investment firm Eurazeo...

B&B Hotel Group, which launched in Brittany in France in 1990, is at the "high end" of the budget hotel sector attracting business and leisure travelers and has a total of 16,162 rooms across France, Germany and Italy.

Carlyle intends to expand the company by investing in the refurbishment of current hotels and stepping up the hotel opening programme across Europe. This will include expanding further into France as well as upping its presence in Germany where it only has 34 properties at present.

It will also open new hotels in Italy and expand into new territories such as Poland, Portugal, The Netherlands.

Franck Falezan, managing director at The Carlyle Group, said: "B&B has high customer satisfaction and has had strong market performances and strong business resilience during the downturn. We are confident in the continued high growth potential of the company in existing and new European markets. In partnership with our experienced real estate team and B&B's excellent management team, we look forward to helping B&B reach its full potential."

The real estate fund has recently bought the £671m White Tower portfolio and announced its planned investment into the London student housing market.

Source: Property Week