PIF acquires a 49% stake in luxury chain Rocco Forte Hotels

Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund has agreed to buy a 49% stake in Rocco Forte Hotels in a deal that is believed to value the luxury group’s properties at about £1.2 billion ($1.52 billion).

The Public Investment Fund is snapping up the “significant” minority stake in the company, which owns The Balmoral in Edinburgh and Brown’s Hotel in London, with an aim of helping it to expand further worldwide.

Rocco Forte Hotels, which was founded in 1996, has 14 hotels and resorts, as well as 20 private villas across Italy, the UK, Germany, Belgium and Russia.

Read the original article in The National: Saudi wealth fund PIF buys stake in luxury chain Rocco Forte Hotels