De Vere has accepted

AHG Venice first expressed interest in De Vere just over three weeks ago. It already owns Initial Style Conferences, a hotel/conference venue group, which it bought last year. Balfour-Lynn has a track record in hotels, with the Malmaison and Hotel du Vin chains owned by Marylebone Warwick Balfour, the property group of which he is a director.

De Vere will pay AHG Venice a break fee of euro 10.78 million ($13.51 million) should the deal not go through, Thursday's statement said. In addition, AHG agreed to sell De Vere's Carden Park Hotel and golf complex in Cheshire for euro 60.8 million ($76.1 million) to Steve Morgan, the founder of homebuilder Redrow, which owns a 13% stake in De Vere and sits on its board as a nonexecutive director. In return, Morgan has agreed to accept the offer from AHG. The hotel is adjacent to Morgan's personal estate and was built by him.

Under UK takeover rules, such side deals are banned unless other shareholders approve, and the De Vere's adviser, UBS, has said it is a fair price. Permira is now considering complaining to the takeover panel.