Raffles Holdings Limited announced that it
has entered into a definitive agreement to divest its Hotel Business to
Colony HR Acquisitions LLC, an affiliate of Colony Capital LLC for an enterprise
value of US$1 billion, subject to adjustments upon completion. Raffles Holdings
is selling its entire hotel business of 41 properties, including Singapore's
118-year-old Raffles Hotel, for US$859 million cash to Colony Capital, retaining
only its interest in the multi-use Raffles City complex. Under the deal,
Los Angeles-based Colony Capital will pay a 64 per cent premium above the
hotel business' net tangible assets, and Raffles Holdings will net a gain
of US$352 million and keep its 45 per cent share in Tincel Properties, which
has a US$407 million stake in Raffles City. The complex houses Swissotel
and Stamford hotels, Raffles City Shopping Centre, Tower Blocks and Convention
Centre. |
The owners of the Four Seasons Hotel Sydney
has put the 531-key hotel up for sale. The majority owner is the Chicago-based
Walton Street Capital, with the Toronto-based Four Seasons Hotels holding
a minority stake. The sale is expected to fetch up to US$172 million. The
hotel was purchased in 1998 for approximately US$116 million. A refurbishment
exercise, which saw a reduction in room count from 594, cost US$45 million
Several groups may be keen to buy the hotel, including the GPT Group and
the Singapore-based GIC Real Estate. |
Kerry Packer and Transfield Holdings have
put Australia's biggest ski resort, Perisher Blue in Jindabyne town, on
the market in a sale expected to reap as much as US$150 million. The resort
was formed in a 1995 merger between Mr Packer's Perisher-Smiggin Holes and
Transfield's Blue Cow-Guthega, and includes 50 lifts. In addition to the
ski fields and lifts, the resorts include the Perisher Valley Hotel, and
the Station Resort in Jindabyne. Other revenue generators include the ski
and snow boarding schools, equipment hire, and the alpine railway from Bullocks
Flat. The hotels have a total of about 1,500 beds. The owners have talked
about expanding the resort since the mid-1990s and a 2001 master plan by
the National Parks and Wildlife Service flagged the creation of a village
centre at Perisher with a further 1,300 beds across the resort. |
The hotel industry in India is witnessing
a new high in occupancy rates. The best period for the hospitality industry
in India was between 1994 and 1996 and the boom times have returned. Conventions,
conferences and extended-stays by business travellers have pushed hotel
occupancies up in all major cities and the hospitality industry is expecting
an average occupancy of 90 percent in the October to March season. Average
room occupancies have been over 80 percent in Bangalore, 77 percent in Hyderabad
and New Delhi and over 70 percent in Mumbai and Chennai. The open sky policy
and the growth of the aviation sector are also behind the boost in the performance
of the hospitality industry. |
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide,
Inc. will debut a new hotel brand to provide style, design and energy at
comfortable rates. Currently referred to as "Project XYZ", the
brand is being developed by the team that created W Hotels, widely regarded
as the most successful new hotel brand in decades. Sharing some of the characteristics
of what the industry refers to as select service, XYZ will create a new
category leveraging its W lineage and delivering a unique lifestyle experience
which has been historically absent at this end of the hotel spectrum. |
US budget hotel chain Super 8 Motels Inc
plans to open 280 properties in China by 2008 with revenues from its China
operations to hit US$150 million annually. By the end of 2005m additional
30 properties are expected to be opened or signed. The budget hotel chain,
which is owned by Cendant Corp of the US, launched its China operations
in June last year and is now operating eight properties in six cities with
another eight in the pipeline. The US firm, which runs more than 2,000 motels
in North America, is investing heavily in China. It is hoping to tap into
China's expanding middle class which has similar potentials to the American
market. |