FAIRMONT Raffles Holdings, the hotel company controlled by the Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal and Colony Capital, the American investment firm, is seeking to raise up to $2.5 billion (£1.4 billion) through asset disposals, The Times has learnt.

The company, created by the recent $5.5 billion merger of Canada’s Fairmont Hotels & Resorts and Raffles Hotels of Singapore, has drawn up a sale list of about 15 properties, including the Fairmont Banff Springs in the Rocky Mountains and the Fairmont Acapulco Princess in Mexico.

A spokeswoman for Fairmont confirmed that it was looking to sell the property assets of several hotels, although she emphasised that the group intended to continue running the hotels under a long-term operating contract.

“We’ll only entertain offers from buyers who recognise the unprecented value of these landmark hotels, are committed to building on their success and will retain Fairmont as long-term manager,” the spokeswoman said.

The company confirmed that it had appointed agents to sell six of the hotels, with Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels being retained to market the two Fairmonts in Bermuda and two in Acapulco. The Fairmont Copley Plaza in Boston is being handled by Easdil Secured, while Colliers International is selling the Fairmont Royal Pavilion in Barbados.

The spokeswoman declined to comment on the other owned hotels, although property industry sources confirmed that the company has approached agents about selling its entire remaining asset base in order to focus on managing, rather than owning, hotels.

Analysts said that the move would allow Prince Alwaleed’s Kingdom Hotels International and Colony Capital to repay a big chunk of the debt taken out to fund the Fairmont Raffles deal.

However, Fairmont’s spokeswoman said that the disposals were part of a continuing strategy of “redeploying capital to fund growth and acquire new management contracts”. Its recent expansion has been almost exclusively through addition of management contracts, including those for The Savoy in London and the St Andrews Bay resort in Fife.

Fairmont is one of several international companies seeking to raise funds through so-called sale and manage-back deals. Others include InterContinental Hotels Group, Hilton Hotels Corporation and Starwood Hotels & Resorts.

ALWALEED’S HOTEL INVESTMENTS

1994: Buys 50% stake in Fairmont Hotels, cut to 4.9% after merger with Canadian Pacific Hotels

1994: Acquires 22% stake in Four Seasons Hotels

1996: Buys George V, Paris

1997: Takes 27% holding in Mövenpick Hotels

2004: New $1.5bn joint venture with Fairmont and HBOS buys Monte Carlo Grand

2005: Buys The Savoy, London, for $400m with Fairmont and HBOS

2006: Floats Kingdom Hotel Investments in Dubai and London, retaining 53.2%

2006: Establishes joint venture with Colony Capital to buy out Fairmont and merge it with Raffles Hotels

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