Northumberland-based Inn Collection Group in £10m expansion deal with London’s OakNorth

Northumberland-based Inn Collection Group in £10m expansion deal with London’s OakNorth

North East accommodation provider The Inn Collection Group has secured a £10m investment to fund its expansion plans.

The company, based in Northumberland and backed by private equity firm Alchemy Partners, will use an eight-figure boost from OakNorth bank to open new sites throughout the region over the next three years.

Inn Collection’s portfolio comprises 271 rooms across nine sites in Northumberland, County Durham and Teesside.

But the company plans to increase this to nearly 900 rooms across 21 sites by 2022 using finance from OakNorth and Alchemy.

The latest investment is OakNorth’s second loan for the Northumberland-based business, following a deal last June that enabled the firm to open two new sites and increase its portfolio to nine.

Inn Collection was then sold to Alchemy Partners, which has more than £1.8bn of assets.

Sean Donkin, managing director at The Inn Collection Group, said: “It has been an incredible 12 months for The Inn Collection Group.

“We’ve secured backing from one of the UK’s most reputable private equity firms and have successfully secured two loans from OakNorth, a bank that prides itself on the high quality of its loan book.”

He added: “As we look ahead to the future, we are keen to continue building our portfolio with sites that fit with our proposition of providing high-quality accommodation, service, food and beverages, and are delighted to have the support of both OakNorth and Alchemy Partners to help us achieve this.”

OakNorth debt finance director Stuart Blair commented: “The North East experienced record-breaking levels of tourism in 2018, according to figures from Visit England.

“The number of visitors was up across all the Northern Powerhouse regions, but the North East, where most of The Inn Collection Group’s sites are based, recorded the largest rises.”

He continued: “The fact that the group has managed to secure backing from such an established private equity firm as Alchemy Partners, speaks to the quality of the management team and their ambitious and strategic future growth plans.

“We were delighted when they returned to us for a second loan and look forward to working with the group on their continued expansion in the future.”

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