14 September – LAWFUEL – The Law News Network – Lovells advised InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (IHG) on the sale of the InterContinental Hotel Paris to an affiliate of GIC Real Estate, the real estate investment arm of the Government of Singapore, for €315 million. The transaction, announced on 8 September, is expected to complete in the fourth quarter of 2005.
IHG is the world’s largest hotel company by number of rooms and includes the InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Staybridge Suites, Candlewood Suites and Hotel Indigo brands. The sale of this 438 room hotel in Paris is part of IHG’s ongoing asset disposal programme, which has included the sale of 139 hotels since April 2003 with proceeds of approximately £2.2 billion. The group will continue to own its flagship InterContinental Le Grand in Paris.
This is the first significant disposal on which Lovells has acted for IHG. Lovells fielded a cross-border M&A team from its London and Paris offices.
The Lovells team was led by corporate partner Nigel Read, assisted by Maegen Morrison, a senior associate in London, and by partner Corinne Knopp, head of real estate in Paris, and senior associate Caroline Varlet. GIC Real Estate was advised by Baker & McKenzie in London and Paris.
Nigel Read, speaking for the Lovells team, said:
“We were delighted to assist InterContinental Hotels on this flagship disposal. We believe our cross-border real estate practice is ideally suited to cope with the complexities of this type of multi-jurisdictional transaction”
