An American group has made a Monopoly style swoop on Mayfair to buy one of London's most prestigious hotels in a £115 million sterling deal.
Leisure company Radisson Edwardian will pay around £400,000 a room for the InterContinental May Fair.
Owner InterContinental Hotels said the price of the 289-room hotel, which was opened in 1927 by King George V, was a small discount to its book value.
The hotel's restaurants have attracted celebrities including Hollywood actor Gary Oldman, singer Neil Sedaka, and the Earl of Wessex.
InterContinental - which is the hotels arm of the recently demerged leisure group Six Continents - has been examining its hotels as it looks to drive better returns.
It wants to reduce the capital intensity of the business, such as the high cost of refurbishments, by selling those hotels it does not need to own, provided it can get a fair price.
Despite selling the May Fair at below its book value, InterContinental said this would not hit 2003 earnings.