Mint Hotels Sold To Hilton Owner

THE company that owns the Hilton Hotel Group announced a deal to buy hotel chain Mint today.

Blackstone is an American-based private equity firm with assets worth more than $35bn worldwide.

“We have cherished this business since its inception and we wish everyone well going forward."

Mint, formerly called City Inn, opened its first hotel in Bristol in 1999 and currently owns eight four-star hotels, including sites in Manchester and Leeds. The company was re-branded as Mint Hotel last year.

Neither party was willing to disclose the value of the deal, but Confidential understands it to be worth around £600m.

It is not yet known if Blackstone has any plans to rebrand any of the Mint chain.

David Orr, chief executive and co-founder of Mint, who was in Manchester this week to tell staff about the deal, believes the company is in good hands with its new owners.

“In Blackstone, the business now has a global investor with a strong and expansive track record in the hospitality sector,” he said.

“We wish the new managers every success with the business and are hugely proud to have built it up to the position it now is in.”

Mint opened a flagship hotel in London in 2010 and ventured outside the UK for the first time this year when the latest addition to the chain opened in Amsterdam in May.

Sandy Orr, executive chairman and co-founder of Mint, said: “We have cherished this business since its inception and we wish everyone well going forward." 

Mint boasts that it is the only hotel brand to offer iMacs in all guest and meeting rooms as standard.