US-based investment bank, Goldman Sachs, looks set to acquire troubled hotel chain, Queens Moat Houses (QMH), through its British property arm, Whitehall Funds, in a deal worth £544m.

The deal ends a decade of troubles for QMH, which began with an accounting scandal, a huge asset write down and the sacking of the entire board in 1993 and ended in a breach of its banking covenants and failure to publish its full-year accounts in October 2003.

Final confirmation of the deal will be announced by 16 August and depends on the consent of QMH debtors, who have been offered a 90 per cent return of their debt by Whitehall Funds.

However, the deal will leave ordinary QMH shareholders heavily in the red, as Whitehall’s offer values each share at just 1p.

Steven Marshall, chair, QMH, said: “The board is recommending the acquisition of Queens Moat by Whitehall to shareholders as the best outcome from the strategic review for the company.”

Trading in the debt-ridden QMH was suspended at the London Stock Exchange last October, shortly after its shares plunged to 8.5p each.

Whitehall refused to comment on the future of the QMH portfolio, but Westmont Hospitality is expected to take over management of the hotels.

QMH operates 80 hotels in the UK, the Netherlands and Germany.