| InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has signed
another property to be situated on the Son Tra Peninsula in Vietnam. Scheduled
to open in 2009, the ten hectare, 200-room InterContinental Danang Resort
will be the first international luxury beachfront resort in the area, surrounded
by coastal beaches, natural lakes and tropical forests. The resort will
also be closely located to various historical, cultural and natural attractions,
including UNESCO-listed world heritage sites. The InterContinental Danang
Resort will be developed by Terra Joint Stock Co. and is part of IHG's expansion
plans into Asia and Vietnam, with InterContinental Hanoi Westlake to open
in late 2007 and InterContinental Ho Chi Minh City scheduled to commence
operations in 2009. |
| Three internationally-renowned industry gurus -
Adrian Zecha of GHM Hotels and Aman Resorts, French interior designer, Philippe
Starck and architect Jean-Michel Gathy - has collaborated to work on a new
five-star General Hotel Management (GHM) operated boutique hotel in Phang
Nga Bay, Phuket, Thailand. Scheduled to open in late 2008, the Yamu is poised
to be Phuket's most exclusive boutique hotel offering 63 hotel rooms, a
100-metre long swimming pool, an exclusive club complex with personal butler
service, a 160-seat signature restaurant serving local and international
cuisines, a wine room with a wine cave underground, a designer boutique
and a 39-berth private marina, among others. The hotel will also offer 12
Villa Estates and 15 Club Villas, each with individual private pools, for
private investment opportunities. |
| India Hospitality Corp. (IHC) has announced its
intention to acquire India's Mars Restaurants Private Limited (MRPL), an
emerging hotel and restaurant company, and SkyGourmet Catering Private Limited
(SCPL), an airline catering company, for approximately US$110 million to
create a diversified hospitality company servicing the rapidly growing Indian
travel and leisure markets. Under the acquisition terms, the sellers, which
include affiliates of Navis Capital Partners (Navis), a private equity firm,
and certain private shareholders, are expected to receive approximately
US$110 million of which approximately US$91.6 million will be payable in
cash and the remainder in IHC ordinary shares upon completion of the transaction.
Additional consideration may become payable if the businesses achieve certain
performance targets. Navis and its affiliates will also be granted an option
to subscribe, in cash, up to US$75 million worth of new IHC ordinary shares,
which, if exercised in full, would result in its ownership interest in IHC
increasing to approximately 20.7% on a fully diluted basis. The extraordinary
general meeting of the shareholders of IHC to approve the acquisition is
expected to be held in mid-July 2007. |
| Saujana Consolidated Bhd (SCB) has announced a
major expansion plan to open a US$17.4 million, 105-room five-star boutique
hotel called The Club at The Saujana within the Saujana Resort in Subang.
Upon completion in mid-2008, the new hotel, within its 121.5 hectare site,
will have a reduced 315 room inventory as some of the existing rooms have
to make way for the new wing. Both hotels will be operated by General Hotel
Management Ltd. (GHM) and the new Club suites would offer guests with 52
square metres to 176 square metres of living space, butler service, a special
shopping butler, a spa and private pools. According to SCB, there are plans
for a second phase of renovation that will include the public areas including
the main lobby, restaurant and the rooms at The Saujana. |
| The Singapore government has announced its biggest
ever land sales programme in bid to curb the significant rise in property
prices and rents across all property segments which could hinder Singapore's
competitiveness. The Ministry of National Development has announced another
15 new sites, including four hotel sites, to be put up for sale in the second
half of 2007. The four new hotel sites, located in Jalan Bukit Merah, Jalan
Besar, Race Course Road and Tanjong Pagar, are aimed at providing a good
variety of hotel accommodation for visitors. In addition to the 15 new sites,
26 unsold sites will be carried over from the first half of 2007, making
the total of saleable sites in the second half 2007 to 41, including a total
of 10 hotel sites, which are estimated to yield about 6,500 hotel rooms. |
| Satori Resorts (Satori) has secured control of
three North Queensland coastal luxury resorts projects with an estimated
total end value of US$1.35 billion. Satori took over Leighton Holdings'
(LEI) owned entity, John Holland Pty Ltd's interests in the resort projects,
which include the US$1.2 billion Ella Bay sustainable masterplan project,
the US$91.5 million Little Cove project at Ella Bay and the US$88 million
Mission Beach development. While the 450-hectare Ella Bay masterplan project
has yet to receive development approvals, the 65-hectare Little Cove eco-resort
project and the 20-hectare Mission Beach project have been given the green
light. According to the newly appointed chief executive of Satori Resorts,
Paul Sparshott, the acquisition move is in line with the company's sustainable
property development focus and allows John Holland to concentrate on its
core business of construction engineering. |
