Orient Express bids for top hotel

Orient Express, the luxury travel group that owns the famous train service, is in talks to buy the Royal Horseguards hotel from BIL International, the Singaporean group that has just taken control of Thistle Hotels.

Orient is offering around £100m for the famous 281- room hotel in Whitehall Place near Trafalgar Square. The deal includes the old National Liberal Club, where its conference and banqueting facilities are based. But BIL, which secured control of Thistle two months ago after a fractious £627m bid battle, claims the hotel is worth at least its book value of £111m.

Orient is keen to add a prestigious London hotel to its portfolio. The group, which was spun out of James Sherwood's Sea Containers transport empire and is run by his stepson Simon Sherwood, owns some top hotels, restaurants and travel facilities. These include Venice's Cipriani Hotel, Cape Town's Mount Nelson Hotel,New York's 21 Club, London's Harry's Bar, and Peru's Cuzco-Machu Picchu tourist railway. Controversially, it runs luxury cruises in Burma, on the MV Road to Mandalay, and is criticised by lobby groups opposing the repressive Burma regime.

Simon Sherwood is understood to have made the initial approach to BIL chief executive Arun Amarsi after the Thistle takeover. It is understood Mr Amarsi is unwilling to sell unless he obtains a valuation near the price he thinks Royal Horseguards is worth. Though the London hotels market is not buoyant, Mr Amarsi believes BIL could get more than Orient is offering if the hotel was auctioned.

Thistle owns the Royal Horseguards on a long lease. Most of its hotels are leased, with 37 owned by Andy Ruhan, the property and technology tycoon.

Mr Ruhan paid £650m for the freeholds in a deal with Orb Estates, the Jersey-based investment group being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office over £33m of missing money at Izodia, a quoted company where Orb was a major shareholder.