Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein has acted for Compass Group, the leisure and catering company, for the first time on announced mergers and acquisitions.

Compass has disposed of three hotels businesses for more than £1bn (€1.6bn) in the past few days. The group sold two Forte hotels to London & Regional Properties for £105m, the Posthouse hotels chain to the leisure company Bass for £810m, and the Heritage Hotels group to a joint venture between Macdonald Hotels and Bank of Scotland for £236m.