Hilwood Resorts and Hotels ("Hilwood"), the joint venture partnership set up earlier this year by Delancey, Gregor Ritchie and Arvinder Walia to acquire and operate premium UK hotels, has made its second acquisition. In a £26.4million deal, it has purchased the Bovey Castle hotel and golf resort in Dartmoor National Park, Devon, from international entrepreneur, Peter De Savary.

Occupying an area of more than 365 acres, Bovey Castle resort provides five-star hotel accommodation in a 1920s-built former private home and sporting estate which has been completely restored over the past four years by de Savary. The hotel has 65 bedrooms, in addition to which there is also a self-contained two bedroom cottage, and 14 luxury three bedroom lodges within the estate (eight lodges having previously been sold to Exclusive Resorts, a US destination holiday club). Bovey Castle also provides an 18-hole, world-class championship golf course which has been ranked in the top 100 golf courses in the UK, putting and practice areas, a spa and pool area and a number of other leisure facilities including an equestrian centre, a children's club and playbarn, a trout lake, croquet, tennis and archery. There is also an extensive business and conference centre within the estate, complete with a multi-media style theatre, boardrooms and communications rooms and separate reception area. De Savary is retaining various other property assets which are not relevant to the Bovey Castle hotel operation.

Speaking about the acquisition of Bovey Castle, Jamie Ritblat, chief executive of Delancey, commented:

"Bovey Castle is a highly exclusive resort, and a fantastic asset to have acquired. We are delighted to have been able to make such a prestigious acquisition in the sector so quickly - less than six months after our purchase of The Grand in St Helier, Jersey, in April. We have already identified a number of areas at Bovey Castle which will provide development and operational opportunities to us, and believe, therefore, that its contribution to the Hilwood Resorts portfolio will be immediate."

Hilwood joint managing director, Gregor Ritchie, commented:

"Bovey Castle precisely represents the style and quality of resort which we will be looking to epitomise the Hilwood Resorts brand in the future. We already see a number of opportunities to increase the profitability of the resort and are very excited to be adding it to our portfolio at this relatively early stage in our joint venture with Delancey."

-ENDS-

For more information, please contact:

Sally Hands
Delancey
Tel: +44 (0)20 7448 1448

Dido Laurimore/Stephanie Highett
Financial Dynamics (for Delancey)
Tel: +44 (0)20 7831 3113

Notes to Editors
Delancey is an investment advisor with a reputation for consistently delivering significant returns across a wide spectrum of real estate and asset backed opportunities on behalf of its international investor base.

Hilwood Resorts and Hotels was established in 2006 to acquire and operate a portfolio of hotel investments in the premium four and five star areas of the UK hotel sector.

The Company is a joint venture between Delancey, Gregor Ritchie, most recently former Operations Director of Hand Picked Hotels Limited, and Arvinder Walia, former Group Finance Director of Hand Picked Hotels Limited.

Hilwood aims to create a high-end signature brand targeting a range of market categories, including corporate, conference and family as well as catering specifically to those seeking quality spa, food and beverage experiences.