Private equity firm Starwood Capital has completed one of the largest UK real estate deals in the past 18 months, buying a portfolio of 10 London hotels for £800M, or just over $1B.

Starwood bought the portfolio comprising 10 hotels with 2,053 rooms from Edwardian Group, the privately owned UK hotel owner and operator. The hotels operate under the four-star Radisson Blu Edwardian brand.

Eight of the hotels are in central London, one is in east London and another is in Heathrow.

The deal represents a boon for the London market, where large transactions were few and far between since interest rates shot up. It also represents a massive boost for a hotel market that saw volumes drop £2B last year, down 37% from 2022, according to data from Knight Frank.

The deal means that Starwood’s European hotel portfolio stretches to 47 hotels with 10,000 rooms. Starwood will look at opportunities to improve the London portfolio's value, including rebranding the hotels.

Edwardian was started in 1977 by Jasminder Singh, a British businessman who started as an accountant before working for his uncle’s hotel company and eventually growing his own firm.

Edwardian will continue to own and operate The Londoner and its two Radisson Collection hotels, The May Fair and The Edwardian Manchester, following the closing of the transaction.

JLL provided real estate advisory services, and Baker McKenzie provided legal services to Edwardian. Paul Hastings acted for Starwood Capital on the acquisition.