Trio of firms check in for luxury hotel sale

A joint venture made up of US-based opportunity fund Starwood Capital and European property company London & ­Regional bought the 1,019-bedroom luxury ­Cumberland Hotel based at ­London’s Marble Arch for an undisclosed amount.

BLP commercial real estate and restructuring partner John Kelsey acted for RBS on the deal, building on his experience acting for major banks in the sector.

Nabarro real estate investment partner Ciaran Carvalho represented ­London & Regional. ­Carvalho acted on the title investigation, working closely with Leonard ­Sebastian, group manager and legal director at ­London & Regional, who was involved in the negotiation of the deal.

A personal contact gifted corporate real estate partner David Ryland new client Starwood Capital. Starwood’s chief operating officer Desmond Taljaard formerly worked at
the Hilton hotel group, which is also a client of SJ Berwin.

Ryland said that this was a “complicated deal”, which was completed in two weeks because the ­vendor timetable required that it be done promptly.

He was assisted by ­associates Steven Cowins, Michael James and Darren Rogers. Associate David Parton advised on ­construction aspects.