Sir Rocco Forte's privately-owned luxury hotel group, RF Hotels, has joined forces with the Bank of Scotland to invest £270m in expanding the brand across Europe. Both companies will invest £35m into the project and will raise a debt of around £200m to expand the portfolio to 20 sites. Forte says that Bank of Scotland has played a vital role in RF Hotels' development since the sale of The Balmoral in Edinburgh to the group five years ago: They have provided the debt finance which has helped grow our collection to seven hotels and I am delighted to extend that relationship by forming this joint venture for future expansion across Europe. Bank of Scotland managing director, George Mitchell, said: The joint venture is being launched by extending the bank's existing equity position in the new Lowry Hotel in Manchester and we look forward to involvement in more projects. The venture will operate separately from RF Hotels, which has three UK properties and others in Rome, St Petersburg, Florence and Brussels.