The privately-owned hotel group, Pederson Group, has acquired four Queens Moat House hotels from the Bank of Scotland for more than £40m.

The group – which already owns the St Mellons Hotel near Cardiff and the Regency Park Hotel in Thatcham, Berkshire – has bought the Holiday Inn at Caversham Bridge in Reading, The Moat House in Winchester, The Moat House in Sheffield and The Holiday Inn on Victoria Street in Bristol.

The Holiday Inn, Bristol has already been leased to the Accor Hotel Group, but the Reading, Winchester and Sheffield properties will be operated by Pederson itself.

Neil Muir, group operations manager, said: “These purchases reflect our company’s commitment to identifying hotels with considerable potential for development to create a portfolio of quality, individually-styled properties.”

Pederson will now be embarking on a refurbishment programme for the hotels, which will see them renamed The Winchester Hotel, The Sheffield Park and The Holiday Inn Reading.

It has recently completed an £8m redevelopment project at the Regency Park Hotel – including adding 64 executive bedrooms, conference and function rooms and leisure facilities – and is planning to add 39 rooms and extend the restaurant at the St Mellons hotel.

The company has also applied for planning permission to construct a 120-bedroom, 4-star hotel in Duxford, Cambridgeshire.

The property would include extensive conference, banqueting and leisure facilities and is expected to cost in the region of £16m.