Featured in this EMEA Hospitality Newsletter - Week Ending 26 January 2007
Jurys Gives Its Verdict On The Burlington Hotel
Orco Puts Endurance Fund To The Test
Pandox Acquires Two Hotels In Sweden
Algeria Possessed By The Spirit Of Corinthia
Crerar Moves To Increase Its UK Portfolio
Serena Plays A Two-Hander In Rwanda
This Is BBC Scotland. And Now An Item About Redevelopment
Bollenbach To Step Down As Hilton's Chief Executive
England And Scotland Play The Regeneration Game


Jurys Gives Its Verdict On The Burlington Hotel
Jurys Doyle Hotel Group is said to have drawn up plans to sell The Burlington Hotel, its 506-room property in the centre of Dublin. Reports suggest that the company could expect to make at least €250 million from any sale, money that would be invested in the remainder of the Jurys Doyle portfolio. Property developer Bernard McNamara has been named by some sources as an early favourite to make the purchase. Mr McNamara was part of a consortium that recently paid €100 million for a nearby building formerly occupied by the insurance group Allianz.

Orco Puts Endurance Fund To The Test Return to Headlines
Orco Property Group and an unnamed institutional investor are each committing €250 million to the establishment of Endurance Hospitality Fund (EHF). Orco will manage and take a stake of around 20% in the joint venture. One of EHF’s first acts will be to pay €171.1 million for Orco’s hotel portfolio (MaMaison Hotels and Apartments) and the associated management company in Central Europe. The deal, which is expected to complete by the end of March, excludes the Pachtuv Palace hotel, Orco’s trophy asset in the Czech capital Prague. EHF will have the capability to invest up to €2 billion in the acquisition of hotel assets in Central and Eastern Europe.

Pandox Acquires Two Hotels In Sweden Return to Headlines
Pandox, the hotel property company, has made two additions to its portfolio in its homeland of Sweden. The 225-room Best Western Hotell Skogshöjd and the 150-room Quality Park Hotell, both of which stand in the town of Södertälje, which lies just to the west of Stockholm, join the portfolio as a result of Pandox’s purchase of the shares in Skogshöjd Handels & Fastighets, the owner of the two hotels. The total amount paid for the shares and hotel package was 125 million Swedish kronor (approximately €14 million). Pandox will take the hotels over on 1 March.

Algeria Possessed By The Spirit Of Corinthia Return to Headlines
Algeria has borders with Tunisia and Libya, but unlike its neighbours it had never been visited by Corinthia Hotels International (CHI) – until now. CHI will advise Lafider as the Algerian firm draws up plans for a five-star hotel that will become the Corinthia Hotel – Algiers. Not only that, but CHI will manage the 274-room property when it opens its doors in the Algerian capital in 2009.

Crerar Moves To Increase Its UK Portfolio Return to Headlines
Crerar Hotels has taken on the management of five hotels – three in Scotland and two in England – to bring its portfolio of hotels in the UK to 33. The Edinburgh-based company will operate the five properties, which were all formerly part of the Swallow Hotels chain, on behalf of PRUPIM, the asset management arm of the insurance firm Prudential. The Scottish properties are The Golf View Hotel, in Nairn; the Old Manor Hotel, in Lundin Links, in the county of Fife; and The Learmonth Hotel, which stands in Edinburgh. The hotels on the other side of the border are the Hotel St Nicholas, in the resort of Scarborough, in North Yorkshire, and the Plough and Harrow, which stands in the Edgbaston district of Birmingham.

Serena Plays A Two-Hander In Rwanda Return to Headlines
When February starts so too will Serena Hotels’ operation of its first hotels in the republic of Rwanda, in central Africa. Serena Hotels has signed two long-term lease agreements with the country’s government. The first covers the former Kigali InterContinental, a 104-room, five-star hotel in the capital Kigali. The property, which will be renamed the Kigali Serena Hotel, will absorb investment of US$9.5 million, which will provide, among other facilities, an additional 50 guest rooms. The second agreement covers the Kivu Sun Hotel, which stands on the shores of Lake Kivu, in the west of the country. The 72-room, four-star property will be renamed Lake Kivu Serena Hotel. Over in southwestern Africa, meanwhile, Protea Hotels has signed a management agreement that makes The Burning Shore the company’s eighth hotel in Namibia. The 12-room, five-star hotel stands near the coastal town of Swakopmund.

This Is BBC Scotland. And Now An Item About Redevelopment Return to Headlines
BBC Scotland has sold for £18 million premises formerly used for broadcasts and the 5.3 acres of land on which the buildings stand. The purchasers were a joint venture formed by Blackrock International Land, Applecross Properties and Esk Properties. The site, which lies in the west end of Glasgow, will be given over, if planning approval is secured, mostly to residential development. The listed buildings on the site will be redeveloped as a hotel and leisure complex. A decision on the planning application is expected later this year.

Bollenbach To Step Down As Hilton's Chief Executive Return to Headlines
Stephen Bollenbach is to step down as the chief executive of Hilton Hotels Corporation (HHC) at the end of this year. He will however remain with the company until the end of 2010 in his role as co-chairman, a position he shares with Barron Hilton. HHC expects to have a new chief executive in place by this summer.

England And Scotland Play The Regeneration Game Return to Headlines
A building in the centre of Hanley, in Staffordshire, thought as its roof was being affixed how exciting life as a hotel was going to be. Imagine the look of surprise on its façade, then, when instead of the expected guests it welcomed a stream of town councillors. That was in Queen Victoria’s day. In Queen Elizabeth’s day, the town hall might have the chance of finally living its dream if the current generation of councillors vote to convert their home into either a boutique hotel or a hotel of a three-star to four-star rating. Meanwhile, if the radar dishes at RAF Buchan were still operational they would be tracking the progress of Military Asset Management, a company run by entrepreneur Frank Strang that bought the disused airbase last year for a reported £3.5 million. Mr Strang plans to turn the site near Peterhead, in northeast Scotland, into a three-star hotel and leisure complex.

Absolute Share Price Performance Over the Past Week 18/01/07-25/01/07




NH Hoteles - Citigroup raised its rating from 'Hold' to 'Buy' and raised its target price from €15 to €19.6 on news that NH Hoteles could be planning to dispose of its Sotogrande property business.

Millennium & Copthorne - The share price rose on the back of the merest rumour of a bid theory about the company.

InterContinental Hotels Group - News that Ellerman Corporation (the investment vehicle of the Barclay brothers) had built a 5% stake caused the share price to rise.