By Mark Green

Last updated at 12:28, Wednesday, 05 September 2012

Iconic country hotel and restaurant Sharrow Bay has finally been sold – to Dragon’s Den star James Caan.

James Caan: Picked up hotel at bargain price

The entrepreneur and former presenter on the BBC2 show paid £1.5m for the 24-bed property in the Lake District. It is part of a £4.5m deal that also includes the luxury hotel Ston Easton Park in Somerset.

The two hotels are the last remaining properties that formed part of Von Essen Hotels, which collapsed last year under the weight of £295m of debt. The group’s creditor banks, Barclays and Lloyds Banking Group, forced the chain into administration in April 2011.

At its height the portfolio consisted of 27 hotels.

The original valuation of Sharrow Bay was £5m, so Mr Caan snapped up the historic hotel on the shores of Ullswater for a bargain price.

The properties were bought through Hamilton Bradshaw, the entrepreneur’s private equity company.

It is believed that the dramatically reduced price paid for Sharrow Bay, founded by Brian Sack and Francis Coulson in 1949, was due to its short-leasehold status and the fact that it was one of the last of the Von Essen properties to be sold.

It is understood that Mr Caan has arranged a new long-term lease on Sharrow Bay and intends to develop it and Ston Easton Park as boutique country house hotels.

Mr Caan, who moved to Britain from Pakistan when he was two, made his initial fortune in the headhunting business. After quitting school before taking O levels, he founded Alexander Mann in 1985 and sold it in 2002. He started Hamilton Bradshaw in 2004 as a private equity firm that focuses on turnarounds.

This year he set up an investment advisory service with Phil Spencer, the presenter of Channel 4 series Location, Location, Location.

First published at 11:31, Wednesday, 05 September 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk