Hotel and betting shop operator Hilton Group has completed the sale of 15 hotels in the UK to The Managed Hotels Unit Trust for £382.4m in cash as part of its £400m asset sale.

The hotels were put up for sale in July and include properties in Aberdeen, Bristol, Coventry, Southampton, Gatwick Airport, London Olympia and Strathclyde.

The 15 hotels will continue to be operated under the Hilton brand through long-term management agreements with an initial term of 30 years.

The hotels have a net book value of £341.4m and the annual income for Hilton from the management contracts is expected to be around £5.4m.

Proceeds of the sale will initially be used to pay down debt, while Hilton has also confirmed that it is in “very advanced discussions” concerning the sale of the Hilton at Edinburgh Airport to the same party.

In March, Hilton sold 11 of its UK hotels, including the Edinburgh Grosvenor, to US group Starwood Capital for £111m.

In a separate deal, talks are understood to be continuing over the sale of more than 400 hotels which Hilton operates worldwide to its American namesake, the Hilton Hotels Corporation, in a deal estimated to be worth about £3.6bn. Details: www.hiltongroup.com