British hotels group Hilton Group Plc yesterday agreed a deal to sell 15 of its UK hotels for £382.4 million but continue managing them and put more hotels up for sale.

The group, which runs more than 400 hotels outside the United States, said it sold the properties for above a net book value of £341.4 million to the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Hilton said proceeds of the sale, including its London Gatwick Airport and London Olympia hotels, 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..

It added that it was also in advanced talks to sell the Hilton hotel at Edinburgh Airport in Scotland with a book value of around £14 million to the same buyer. This would bring the deal to 16 hotels, compared to earlier expectations that Hilton would sell 18 outlets for £400 million.

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.

This grouping of hotels is likely to number less than 10 properties and come mainly from the UK.

"There was widespread interest in the hotels and this has prompted us to put more up for sale," Hilton deputy chief executive Brian Wallace told Reuters by telephone.

Analysts said the commitment to sell more assets reduced somewhat the downside risk if the Hilton-Hilton talks failed, although the downside risk still remains for the shares.

Hilton shares rose 1.3 per cent to 341-1/4 pence by 1100 GMT after rising to 361-1/2p on the US Hilton offer news.

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, which if successful would reunite the Hilton brand after more than 40 years and leave Hilton UK shareholders holding onto the Ladbrokes gambling business.

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