British hotels group Hilton Group agreed a deal to sell 15 of its hotels for £382.4 million (€558 million) but continue managing them.
The group, which runs more than 400 hotels outside the United States, said proceeds of the sale will be used to reduce debt pending its talks about the sale of its whole hotel division to its namesake in the United States, Hilton Hotels Corp.
The group added it would put further hotels on the market in early 2006 - including its London Metropole and Birmingham Metropole with a value in excess of £400 million - and was hoping for similar deals under which it would sell hotels but continue managing them.
Last month, Hilton received an offer from US Hilton which sources close to the deal said valued the UK group's hotels then at £3.6 billion (€5.2 billion).
If successful, that deal would reunite the Hilton brand after more than 40 years and leave Hilton UK shareholders holding onto the Ladbrokes gambling business.