Tue 8th Jan 2019 - Inn Collection Group secures £10m from OakNorth to more than double portfolio to 21 sites Inn Collection Group secures £10m from OakNorth to more than double portfolio to 21 sites: The Inn Collection Group, which is owned by Alchemy Partners, has secured a £10m loan from OakNorth to fund its expansion. The Inn Collection Group plans to more than double its portfolio from nine to 21 sites by 2022. In June last year The Inn Collection Group, which was established in 2006, secured investment from Alchemy Partners, which has invested more than £3.5bn since its inception in 1997 and has £1.8bn of assets. During the past 12 years The Inn Collection Group has developed contemporary inns providing accommodation, food, and drink to leisure and business customers. It currently has 271 rooms across its nine sites in Northumberland, County Durham and Teesside but plans to increase this to almost 900 across 21 sites by 2022 with finance from OakNorth and Alchemy. The Inn Collection Group managing director Sean Donkin said: “It has been an incredible 12 months for The Inn Collection Group – we’ve secured backing from one of the UK’s most reputable private equity firms and have successfully secured two loans from OakNorth, a bank that prides itself on the high quality of its loan book. As we look ahead to the future, we are keen to continue building our portfolio with sites that fit with our proposition of providing high-quality accommodation, service, food and beverages, and are delighted to have the support of both OakNorth and Alchemy Partners to help us achieve this.” Stuart Blair, debt finance director at OakNorth, added: “The north east experienced record-breaking levels of tourism in 2018, according to figures from Visit England. The number of visitors was up across all the northern powerhouse regions but the north east, where most of The Inn Collection Group’s sites are based, recorded the largest rises. The fact the group has managed to secure backing from such an established private equity firm as Alchemy Partners speaks of the quality of the management team and its ambitious and strategic growth plans. We were delighted when it returned to us for a second loan and look forward to working with the group on its continued expansion.”