LONRHO has confirmed it is to float off its Princess and Metropole hotels. The announcement came just days after the conglomerate said it had completed the repurchase of a one third stake in the Metropole business from the state backed Libyan Arab Foreign Investment Company. The group bought back the stake in the Metropole business from the Libyans for £251 million sterling after selling it to them in a controversial deal in 1992 for £177.5 million. The Metropole and Princess operations will be floated off as one company under the Princess Metropole Hotels name.