A property fund backed by Sir Alex Ferguson, the Manchester United manager, is set to defy the credit crunch by securing debt funding to acquire hotels worth about £600 million.

The investment firm aAIM is expected to seal the acquisition of 19 former Queens Moat Houses (QMH) hotels for £400 million this week and is close to agreeing the £200 million purchase of Kew Green Hotels.

It is understood that HBOS, which is already involved with both aAIM and Kew Green, is supplying the debt funding for the transactions.

The former QMH hotels are being bought from Goldman Sachs’s Whitehall Funds property unit, while Moorfield, the property investment firm, is the main backer of Kew Green. Most of the hotels are run under the Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza brands under franchise deals with InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG). It is believed that, once the sales go through, IHG will additionally take on the management of 30 of the 37 hotels. Analysts said that the deals were a sign that sensibly priced acquisitions could still be funded, despite the continuing turbulence in financial markets.

Another recent transaction was the sale of 11 Express by Holiday Inn properties owned by Morethanhotels to JER Partners, an American private equity firm, for about £115 million. Conversely, JER is understood to be selling its stake in the Great Eastern Hotel in the City of London to Hyatt, its partner in the property. Hyatt has recently relaunched the hotel under its boutique Andaz brand.

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