An opulent hotel chain registered in the UK, at the heart of a disagreement between property developer Paddy McKillen and a member of the Qatari royal family, suffered a loss of £77.8 million (€91.6 million) in the previous year. This occurred despite a boost in trading income in the aftermath of the Covid-19 restrictions being lifted and the extension of its principal London establishment by adding a new wing.
Coroin, the owner of the five-star Claridge’s Hotel in London and Maybourne Beverly Hills in Los Angeles, also reversed an impairment charge of nearly £19.7 million recorded in 2022 following a reevaluation of its London properties, as stated in the consolidated accounts registered in London.
Tax losses at Coroin, managed by Luxembourg-registered firm Regis Investments, owned by ex-Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, surged by over £10 million post taxation in 2023, totaling £77.8 million. The company attributed this decrement to the payable interest on its debt of nearly £1.2 billion, triggering a surge in Coroin’s financing costs by over 73 per cent, reaching £86.3 million.
In the prior year, the hotel chain renegotiated a loan of £396.8 million with Qatari-based Dukhan Bank, due for settlement the past October. This altered the repayment schedule to October 2028, as noted in the accounts.
In addition, Coroin’s holding company, along with its US subsidiary, contracted another loan worth £194.8 million with Deutsche Bank where the Al Thani family is among major stakeholders. The loan matures in 2028 and the bulk of it was employed to clear a JPMorgan loan in the previous September.
Last year witnessed a leap in the group’s total revenue by 20 per cent, hitting £170.1 million, an increase from approximately £141 million in 2022, according to the accounts. Separate records for the entity operating behind Claridge’s revealed a bounce from a slight loss in 2022 to an after-tax profit greater than £3 million, on revenues of £119.3 million, marking up by over 21 per cent.
In a document associated with their balance sheets, Coroin’s board members reported that the company had acquired the “beneficial title” to a building next to Claridge’s on Brook Street from a subsidiary. The merger of this renovated property with the existing hotel has allowed for a larger hotel, adding a new wing, totalling 269 rooms after the completion of development works in the last quarter of the previous year. Although Claridge’s has bounced back from the pandemic, the recovery of the US market has lagged, they added. Maybourne Beverly Hills reported an operating loss of £16.9 million at the end of 2023.
The Belfast-born real estate developer, Mr McKillen, got involved with the hotel group in 2004 by purchasing more than a third stake in a consortium directed by Irish investor Derek Quinlan. Mr McKillen then wrestled for control of the hotels with the wealthy Barclay brothers and ultimately won Qatari support for his stake in 2015.
However, that partnership fell apart with Mr McKillen’s dismissal from the board in 2022. He then initiated a lawsuit, alleging that he is entitled to billions of pounds based on a profit-sharing agreement made with the Qataris at the time of the 2015 sale. This sale appraised Claridge’s and other hotels in the broader Maybourne group at £1.3 billion. The legal dispute, which spans multiple jurisdictions, is still in progress.