Travelodge chief Guy Parsons to be replaced by former boss
GUY PARSONS has stepped down as chief executive of Travelodge to allow executive chairman Grant Hearn to take full control of the debt-laden group.
The budget hotel chain, which owns nearly 500 hotels across the UK, Ireland and Spain, said Hearn will resume the role as chief executive which he held until 2010.
The move follows financial restructuring talks that will see Goldman Sachs and two US hedge funds take control of the company.
Grant Hearn said the board “has expressed their wish for me to lead the business once again.”
Echoing comments made by Phillip Clarke at Tesco following chief executive Richard Brasher’s departure, Hearn said “clearly there cannot be two captains running a ship and as a result Guy has decided to leave the company”.
It emerged in February that hedge funds, Avenue Capital and GoldenTree Asset Management were negotiating a debt for-equity swap to take control from Dubai International Capital (DIC), which bought Travelodge in 2006.
The investors have agreed to inject £70m capital to prevent the business defaulting on its loans.