The Savoy, one of London’s landmark hotels , has been taken over by a consortium led by a Saudi prince and will be renamed The Savoy, A Fairmont Hotel.

Quinlan Private, the Irish property investment company which owns the Savoy Group of hotels, agreed to sell the 263-room property to a joint venture consisting of Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, HBOS and Canadian hotel group Fairmont for around £240m.

Fairmont will now assume management of the hotel.

It is the second time The Savoy has changed hands in the past 12 months. Quinlan took over ownership of the hotel in April last year when it acquired the Savoy Group for £750m. The portfolio also included Claridge’s, The Berkeley and The Connaught hotels.

Derek Quinlan, chair of Quinlain, said: “The potential to sell The Savoy presents a logical opportunity to make an immediate return on our initial investment and allows us to focus on the development of the other hotels in the group.”