InterContinental Hotels Group has announced plans to put a further £600m of hotels on the market.
The group, which has sold or agreed to sell more than £2.2bn of hotel assets since its separation from hotel and brewing company Six Continents in April 2003, said it intended to dispose of all of its properties, except those that generate an appropriate return on investment.
IHG said it would retain ownership of around £1bn of hotel assets, including InterContinental branded properties in London, New York, Hong Kong and Paris, and a small portfolio of other hotels across the globe.
These include the InterContinental Buckhead in Atlanta, Georgia, and the prototype of the Holiday Inn hotel in Gwinnett, Georgia.
The next tranche of hotels to be put up for sale will principally be in Continental Europe.
So far this year IHG has sold 82 hotels for £1.2bn.
Disposals included a UK portfolio of 68 Holiday Inns, four Crowne Plazas and one Holiday Inn Express to LRG for £1bn.
The group also announced today the sale of its 438-bedroom InterContinental Hotel in Paris to Dabicam SAS, a wholly owned subsidiary of the government of Singapore’s GIC Real Estate, for €315m – €65m in excess of net book value.
The group will retain ownership of its flagship hotel in French capital, the 477-bedroom InterContinental Le Grand.
The announcement of further sales came as IHG publishes its interim results. In the six months to 30 June, turnover at the group dropped 3.7% to £1.06bn, while pre-tax profit was up 7.8% to £166m.
Jones Lang LaSalle advised IHG on the sale of the InterContinental Paris.
References: EGi News 08/09/05
