It has been reported that the InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) is to announce the £400m sale of seven hotels in Europe to Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund.

The seven hotels which The Times claims are being acquired by Morgan Stanley are located in Cannes in France, Amsterdam in Holland, Budapest in Hungary, Rome in Italy, Frankfurt in Germany, Madrid in Spain and Vienna in Austria.

The newspaper also claimed that UK-based IHG has appointed agents to find a buyer for the 203-room Crowne Plaza Hotel in Blackfriars, London, for more than £70m.

IHG will retain long-term management contracts to continue running the properties and Morgan Stanley has agreed to rebrand one of its Australian hotels under the InterContinental banner, with IHG taking over the management, as part of the deal.

The disposal of the eight hotels will take total proceeds raised by IHG since its demerger from Six Continents three years ago to £2.8bn. Details: www.ichotelsgroup.com