Pebble trio buy hotels

Former Mill House Inns bosses Ted Kennedy and Ziya Akguneyliu have acquired three hotels from Punch Taverns in a deal estimated to be worth around £10m.

The partners sold Mill House Inns to Punch for £164m last summer and have bought back three hotels, which offer a combined total of 125 rooms, that were part of the package. Their new company is called Pebble Hotels and they hope to acquire as many as 30 three-star hotels over the coming years.

Kennedy said: "The hotels will be developed with targeted capex to ensure that they have a strong offering in all three sectors, and the food will have a fresh touch.

"In addition, Pebble will invest in energy-efficient systems to ensure that fuel costs are minimised, along with our carbon footprint."

The three hotels are the White Swan in Stratford, east London, the White Swan in Arundel, West Sussex, and the Potters Heron near Winchester, Hampshire.

The third partner in Pebble Hotels is experienced leisure entrepreneur Philip Walters, who was previously chairman at Mill House.