IHG acquires majority stake in Regent Hotels from Formosa International for $39 million

InterContinental Hotels Group has announced that it will acquire 51% of Regent Hotels & Resorts, from Taiwan’s Formosa International with an option to buy the remaining 49% “in a phased manner from 2026”. The $39 million deal will be paid in three tranches and is expected to close in the second quarter of 2018.

Regent Hotels, a famed luxury brand that has undergone a series of ownership changes over the last 50 years, will be IHG’s 13^th brand, positioned at the top end of their brand portfolio. IHG intends to grow Regent Hotels from its current 6 hotels and 2,000 rooms to 40 properties and 10,000 rooms. IHG also announced that it intends to re-brand the iconic InterContinental Hong Kong as a Regent Hotel in early 2021, thus returning to the flag it had from 1980 to 2001.

Launched in 1970 by Robert Burns and Adrian Zecha in a JV with Japan’s Tokyu Group, Regent grew to become one of Asia’s leading luxury hotel brands until sold to Four Seasons in 1992, who rebranded a number of existing properties, and particularly development projects, under their own brand, before selling the Regent name to Carlson, owners of Radisson, in 1998. Carlson then sold Regent to Taiwan’s Formosa International, headed by Steven Pan and owner of the Grand Formosa Regent Taipei, in 2010.

Invesco sells portfolio of four InterCity Hotels in Germany to Oman based Al Zaman Group

Oman based Al Zaman Group, which already owns the InterCity Hotel Entschede in the Netherlands, has acquired four German InterCity Hotels. The 868-room portfolio acquired from Invesco Real Estate includes properties located in Darmstadt, Mainz, Rostock and Frankfurt Airport. All four properties are operated by Deutsche Hospitality under 30-year lease contracts.

HR Group acquires portfolio of five German Hotels

The German owner-operator HR Group has announced the acquisition of five regional German hotels from various owners, for a combined price of €100 million. The 869-room portfolio is composed of the Dorint Parkhotel Bad Neuenahr (238 rooms), the Dorint Hotel Frankfurt/Sulzbach (282 rooms), the Arcadia Hotel Hanover (120 rooms), the Arcadia Hotel Bottrop (102 rooms) and the Best Western Hotel des Nordens Flensburg (127 rooms).

As part of their ongoing partnership with Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, HR Group plans to rebrand the two Arcadia hotels in Hanover and Bottrop to the Ramada brand.  The two Dorint hotels, sold by the owner of the Dorint brand Honestis AG, will continue to be operated by the HR Group under a Dorint franchise agreement.

Thomas Cook Launches £150 million hotel fund

British travel company Thomas Cook has launched a £150 million hotel fund, aimed at acquiring established European resort hotels in popular leisure destinations. The fund is formed in partnership with Switzerland-based LMEY Investments, with Thomas Cook and LMEY transferring two and three properties respectively into the fund. 

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