SOUTHAMPTON'S 132-bedroom Holiday Inn has been sold as part of a £1 billion deal.

The hotel, in Herbert Walker Avenue, has been bought from the InterContinental Hotels Group by a consortium led by Lehman Brothers' property division.

But the Holiday Inn Express on Botley Road is run as a franchise and is unaffected by the deal.

The deal for 73 UK Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza hotels will see all but ten of the hotels continue to be run by InterContinental under a 20-year lease.

A further 16 hotels remain on the market with a book value of £360m, taking the expected windfall for shareholders to more than £2.1 billion from the sale of 137 sites since April 2003.

It is the biggest property sale since the company emerged from the break-up of the former Bass leisure empire two years ago.

Finance director Richard Solomons said the property disposals, part of the group's strategy to become a managed franchised hotel operator, would reduce InterContinental's hotel ownership to 59 sites, with a book value of £1.6 billion.

Mark Newman, managing director of Lehman Brothers Real Estate Partners, said: "We are very pleased to acquire this portfolio from InterContinental Hotels Group and look forward to working together with them and our joint venture partners GIC Real Estate and Realstar Group."