Ralph Trustees Bid Nearly $250M To Purchase Gleneagles Golf Resort

The "reclusive" brothers who own the Athenaeum Hotel in London have "emerged as frontrunners" to buy Gleneagles with a bid of more than £160M ($248M), according to Dominic Walsh of the LONDON TIMES. Ralph Trustees, controlled by Daniel and Stuart Levy, is "understood to be hoping to negotiate a deal before rival suitors," including KSL Capital Partners, the U.S. private equity firm that owns the Belfry, the former Ryder Cup venue near Birmingham. The brothers also own the Runnymede-on-Thames Hotel, in Surrey, and the Grove, an 18th-century mansion in Watford. They "bought the 300-acre Grove estate" in '96 and in '03 "opened it as a five-star hotel and golf resort." Gleneagles, which hosted last year's Ryder Cup match, "was put up for sale in January by Diageo, the Johnnie Walker Scotch whisky and Smirnoff vodka maker." The drinks group "decided to test the water on a possible sale after receiving 'numerous expressions of interest'" (LONDON TIMES, 5/18).