| Seven InterContinentals For Morgan Stanley |
| InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) announced in January that it was putting seven InterContinental hotels in Europe up for sale; those seven hotels have now been sold, with the transaction scheduled to complete in the third quarter of this year. Morgan Stanley Real Estate Funds (MSREF) has paid €634 million for the properties, which have a total 2,537 rooms. The hotels had a net book value of around €550 million. IHG will continue to manage the hotels in Amsterdam, Budapest, Cannes, Frankfurt, Madrid, Rome and Vienna under 30-year contracts, and MSREF will invest in them an additional €60 million. |
| Seven Center Parcs Resorts For Blackstone | Return to Headlines |
| The Blackstone Group expects to have completed by the end of this month the purchase of seven of the 16 resorts in continental Europe operated by Center Parcs Europe. The properties acquired are in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. Center Parcs Europe will retain the leases on all seven. The sale completes a double-header for The Blackstone Group, which earlier this year acquired Center Parcs (UK), the operator of four holiday villages in the UK. | |
| A Second Hotel In Khartoum For Rotana | Return to Headlines |
| Rotana Hotels’ second property in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, is destined to be the first to open. While we must wait until late into 2007 for the arrival of the 400-room Khartoum Rotana Hotel, we can welcome the five-star Al Salam Rotana Hotel, Khartoum as early as the final quarter of this year. The 250-room hotel that Rotana Hotels is to manage is owned by Zawaya Al Mostagbal Group. In neighbouring Ethiopia, meanwhile, work has officially begun on the construction of a four-star hotel that will stand in front of the United Nations Conference Centre in the country’s capital Addis Ababa. The US$25 million Emerald Addis Hotel will be owned and is being funded by investors from the Republic of Ireland. | |
| Sopot The Sheraton | Return to Headlines |
| Travellers’ craving for Sheraton hotels in Poland is currently satisfied by the Sheraton Krakow Hotel and the Sheraton Warsaw Hotel & Towers. Those travellers who might be getting a bit peckish towards the end of this year are safe in the knowledge that the Sheraton Poznan Hotel will open in December. But what of the long-term nourishment of these travellers? Luckily for them PKO Bank Polski will not let their poor bellies starve. In June 2008 the bank, with the assistance of the City of Sopot and NDI, its partners in the consortium Centrum Haffnera, will serve up the 190-room Sheraton Sopot Hotel, Congress Center & Spa in the resort of Sopot, on the Baltic. PKO Bank Polski and NDI (a privately owned development and construction firm from Poland) are also the two largest shareholders in the Sheraton hotels in Cracow and Poznań. | |
| AHG Venice And Its Plans For De Vere Group | Return to Headlines |
| AHG Venice has seen off the challenge of Permira in the battle for De Vere Group and is now said to be deciding on its plans for the hotel company. One newspaper reports that Richard Balfour-Lynn, one of the leaders of the investment vehicle AHG Venice, would like to separate the property assets from the operating company to release value. He is also said to want to put De Vere’s health and fitness brand Greens up for sale and to invest in the continued roll-out of hotels in the Village Hotels chain. | |
| Another Hotel For The Duni Royal Resort | Return to Headlines |
| The 256-room Marina Beach is to be the final hotel scheduled for construction at the Duni Royal Resort. Bulgarian developer Duni is to invest a reported €12 million in the hotel, which, when it is finished in mid 2007, will be the third five-star property at the resort, which stands on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria. The 310-room Marina Royal Palace and the 201-room Belleville are the other hotels in the five-star category. The resort is also home to two four-star hotels: the 238-room Pelican Hotel and the 201-room Marina Hotel. | |
| NH Hoteles Opens A Third Hotel In Pamplona | Return to Headlines |
| The city of Pamplona in northern Spain has a third hotel from NH Hoteles. The company is to manage the 60-room, three-star NH Agustinos, which stands on the Los Agustinos industrial estate. The new addition joins the 65-room NH El Toro and the 225-room NH Iruña Park in the city. | |
| NCC Helps With The Lübker Golf Resort | Return to Headlines |
| Lübker Golf and Rekbül have chosen NCC Construction Denmark, the Danish subsidiary of Swedish construction firm NCC, to partner them in the development of the Lübker Golf Resort. The 171-hectare project in the Djursland region of eastern Denmark will include a 27-hole golf course, holiday accommodation and apartments. Construction work is scheduled to start this October and the first of the buildings should be ready next summer. | |
| Kenmore Draws Birmingham City | Return to Headlines |
| Kenmore Property Group is the new owner of Snow Hill Plaza in the centre of England’s second city Birmingham. The company paid Abstract Land £20.75 million for the site, which is home to offices and the Thistle Birmingham City. Hotel Portfolio II UK has held the lease on the 133-room hotel since 1969 and will continue to hold it until September 2020. We may wish to continue on the trail of new owners; if so, we will find that the path leads eastwards to the city of Leicester. When we arrive we will find that Lester Hotel Group has paid Acelodge an undisclosed sum for the 77-room, three-star Best Western Leicester Stage Hotel, which will be managed under the Best Western banner by Lester Hotels Management Services. | |
| Kinnitty Castle Finds A Buyer Nearby | Return to Headlines |
| A hotel group (unnamed in reports) from the west of the Republic of Ireland did not have to travel far to make its latest purchase; just a little way inland to Co. Offaly to hand over a reported €13 million for the 37-room Kinnitty Castle. Let us now leave the new owners and strike south on our own so that we may join in the celebrations in Co. Kilkenny to mark the opening of Prem Group’s latest property in the Republic of Ireland: the 80-room Days Hotel Kilkenny. | |
| Silence In Court…Until The Redevelopment Work Starts, That Is | Return to Headlines |
| Bow Street Magistrates’ Court and the police station adjoining were taken into custody last summer by Edward Holdings. The Irish property developer has spent the intervening time making enquiries into how best to proceed with the case for the redevelopment of the Grade II listed properties in central London. A verdict has now been delivered: the properties will be converted into a luxury hotel and a museum to be known collectively as The Bow. | |
Absolute Share Price Performance Over the Past Week 06/07/06-13/07/06
Whitbread - Panmure raised its rating to 'Buy' from 'Hold' and gave a target price of 1,176p.
InterContinental Hotels Group - UBS retained its 'Buy' rating as investors welcomed IHG's sale of seven hotels. The performance of the shares was though at the mercy of a market made volatile by events in the Middle East.
Accor - Fitch confirmed a rating of 'BBB'/'F2'.
