LIVERPOOL’S upmarket Malmaison hotel is continuing to trade normally despite its parent company collapsing into administration.

MWB Group said its 26 hotels across the Malmaison and Hotel du Vin brands were not being placed into administration.

Shares in the group were suspended on October 31 and investors warned their stakes could be wiped out after its part-owned subsidiary, MWB Business Exchange, withdrew repayments on a £4.8m loan.

The temporary office space business claimed it was owed £8m by MWB Group. Its portfolio  includes space at Silkhouse Court in Liverpool city centre where it offers 114 workstations.

Deloitte, which was reportedly drafted in to help the troubled business earlier this week, will be appointed as administrators with immediate effect.

MWB had been developing its hotel business, named after Napoleon’s Chateau de Malmaison, with the intention of selling off the business and returning the proceeds to shareholders.

Liverpool’s Malmaison, in Princes Dock, opened in January, 2007 but a couple of years afterwards its £2.5m stonework started to come loose and a building survey determined the entire work needed to be redone.

Malmaison and Hotel du Vin chief executive, Gary Davis, said: “The Malmaison and Hotel du Vin businesses have great brands and we continue to invest in the estate.

“Both businesses have performed well this year and we continue to see improvements in trading.”