| Featured in this Asia Pacific Hospitality Newsletter - Week Ending 26 August 2005 |
| Starwood Hotels & Resorts Signs Agreement to Acquire Le Meridien Brand | Return to Headlines |
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Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. announced that it has signed definitive agreements to acquire the Le Meridien brand and all related management and franchise business for the brand's more than 130 hotels and resorts. Separately, affiliates of Lehman Brothers and Starwood Capital Group Global LLC are forming a joint venture which is expected to acquire the owned and leased hotel portfolio of Le Meridien. Closing of the brand purchase transaction is subject to certain significant terms and conditions including completion of employee consultations and the closing of the real estate sale. Subject to satisfying the conditions to closing, the deal would close towards the end of the third quarter at which time Starwood Hotels & Resorts would assume control of the Le Meridien brand. |
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| Eureka Clinches IHG Properties in Australia | Return to Headlines |
| The Eureka Funds Management group in Australia has fought off rivals to win a glittering prize. It will buy 10 properties from the InterContinental Hotels Group for US$291 million. The contracts will be finalised in August 2005. Eureka was formed in 2004 by the former management team of Colonial First State Property. InterContinental will hold on to the management rights of the 10 properties. The portfolio of hotels includes properties across Australia and in Wellington, New Zealand. | |
| MFS Bundles Up Stella Resorts Group | Return to Headlines |
| Tourism property fund MFS will bundle its growing portfolio of resort assets under one master brand, the Stella Resorts Group, as it seeks to sharpen its image with tourists and investors. MFS has interests in more then 60 properties, including the 3-star BreakFree Resorts, the 5-star Peppers Retreats & Resorts, the 6-star Bale Resorts and the Mount Hotham and Falls Creek ski resorts. The newly created Stella Resorts Group will manage these brands, while the MFS-owned Sheraton Mirage Resorts at the Gold Coast and Port Douglas will become affiliate properties. | |
| Banyan Tree Buys Third Maldives Resort | Return to Headlines |
| The Banyan Tree Group keeps on expanding, adding another Maldives resort - its third in the archipelago - to its portfolio of properties. The newly acquired Velavaru Island Resort within the the South Nilandhe Atoll was purchased at a cost of US$20 million. The other two Banyan Tree Group resorts in the Maldives are the Banyan Tree Maldives Vabbinfaru and Angsana Maldives Ihuru as the group's first acquisition on a going concern basis. The company is better known for designing and building its resorts from scratch. The group is on an expansion drive, a new resort will open in Ringha (Yunnan), China in September and resorts in Bahrain and Lijiang, China will join the group's portfolio, when they open next March and April respectively. | |
| Straits Trading's Unit in Hainan Hotel Deal | Return to Headlines |
| Straits Trading's hotel management arm of Rendezvous Hotels International, which has been on an expansion blitz in the region, has agreed to provide pre-opening technical consultancy services to a hotel in Hainan Island, China. The agreement was made with the owner of the hotel - Sanya Baohong Industry Company. Rendezvous will manage the hotel as a 5-star hotel for the next 10 years. The 300-room and 31-suite hotel will be known as Rendezvous Baohong Hotel Sanya and is due to open in October. Sanya is one of the two major cities on Hainan Island. Rendezvous had opened the Rendezvous Merry Hotel last year in Shanghai, China and earlier this year, it agreed to manage and provide technical consultancy services in the upgrading of the Southwest Hotel in Chongqing. | |
| Seibu Railway to Reorganize Prince Hotels | Return to Headlines |
| Seibu Railway Co. announced that it would reorganize the Prince Hotel chain by dividing the hotels into four categories according to room charges and usages. The four categories - premier class, high class, middle class and economy class, are expected to expand customer choices and enhance the chain's ability to look after different clientele. There are also plans to affiliate with foreign hotel chains on a management basis while keeping the Prince Hotel name. The Seibu Railway group is scheduled to set up a holding company by the end of March 2006. The new entity will control the Seibu Railway-centered company that runs its railway service and other businesses along rail lines as well as integrating Kokudo Corp. and Prince Hotel Inc., which will manage the group's hotel and leisure businesses. | |
| Absolute Share Price Performance, as at 26 August 2005 |
