Qatar fund eyes UK Marriott hotels

Sovereign wealth funds for Qatar and Abu Dhabi are front-runners to acquire 42 UK-based Marriott hotels which are being sold out of administration, sources said yesterday. The hotels are being sold by largely state-owned bank Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS). Press reports said the Qatar Investment Authority, which is working on a deal with Blue Coast, an Indian hotels chain, had outbid the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. RBS took control of the hotels, which were originally owned by hospitality chain Whitbread, after the failure of talks to restructure loans extended by the bank to the previous owner, a consortium that included an Irish real estate fund and an Israeli property investor.