Nationwide to miss out after Beetham collapse
Administrators of the Birmingham hotel business owned by property group Beetham do not expect lender Nationwide Building Society to recover all of the £29m it is owed, according to a report.
Paul Flint, Brian Green and Mark Orton from KPMG were appointed joint administrators of Beetham Hotels Birmingham on 2 December 2011.
In a new report published at Companies House, they said it is anticipated there would be "insufficient realisations" to repay Nationwide in full. It is also unlikely that unsecured creditors will be repaid the £915,000 they are owed.
Beetham Hotels Birmingham holds the lease to the Radisson Blu hotel on Holloway Circus in Birmingham. Since the administration, it has continued to trade as normal as KPMG's appointment is in respect of the financial arrangements of the landlord.
The 211-bedroom hotel is managed directly by Rezidor Hotels UK under the Radisson brand, and this arrangement will continue. All 120 employees have also remained in employment.
The administrators last week appointed GVA to sell the property's 999-year lease. In the latest report to creditors, they said: "Several advertisements are planned in property and hotel publications and a contact list of 82 parties from both KPMG and GVA sources has been drawn up and preliminary contact made with active players in the hotel market."
Ian Stringer, regional senior director at GVA's Birmingham office, added: "Interest has already started to build – both nationally and internationally – highlighting the significance of this high-profile investment opportunity."
The collapse of Beetham Hotels Birmingham is the latest part of the Beetham group to enter administration. Early last year, Beetham's Manchester and Liverpool hotel businesses were dragged under by an £89m debt-pile.
The hotels, operated by Hilton in Manchester and Radisson Blu in Liverpool, entered administration in February 2011 and were sold to London-based Cypriot businessman Loucas Louca for a combined £60m.
Administrators from Grant Thornton were called the group’s 39-storey West Tower building in Liverpool, while Regional Landmark Hotels, formerly known as the Beetham Organization, entered administration last July.
A report from Baker Tilly revealed that Regional Landmark Hotels owed an estimated £51m when it failed, with sizeable chunks due to Barclays and Bank of Scotland.
Beetham was owned by Stephen Beetham, brother Simon Frost and father Hugh Frost, and was involved in some of the most striking developments in the North West.
