Whitbread Plc has unveiled its plans to acquire 21 hotels, currently trading as Express by Holiday Inn hotels, from Mitchells & Butlers Plc, in exchange for 44 Whitbread pub restaurants.

The hotels will be integrated into the Premier Inn estate and the pub restaurants to be exchanged are on sites that Whitbread has been unable to develop owing to planning constraints.

The exchange has been made on the basis of equivalent EBITDA of around £9 million from the hotels and pub restaurants and an estimated value of £78 million for the assets to be exchanged.

“There is a clear and compelling logic to this transaction. Acquiring this well located, modern hotel estate will enable us to re-brand quickly, drive occupancy, increase profits and extend the number of rooms at these hotels by at least 20 per cent,” said Alan Parker, Whitbread CEO.