CDL unit buys Holiday Inn London for £280 million

[SINGAPORE] A wholly owned subsidiary of City Developments Limited (CDL) – Copthorne Hotel Holdings – has completed the acquisition of Holiday Inn London on Kensington High Street for £280 million (S$480.2 million).

The hotel has 706 rooms, with the sale executed at £396,600 per room, said CDL in a statement on Tuesday (Dec 2).

The building is freehold and stands at 6,356 square metres. It is located a two-minute walk away from Kensington High Street, which is near various cultural landmarks such as Hyde Park, Kensington Palace and Royal Albert Hall.

The property is also a 15-minute walk from exhibition centre Olympia London.

CDL said that the hotel has maintained “robust performance”, with high occupancy rates of more than 97 per cent for the nine months ended September.

“Total revenue for the preceding 12 months exceeded £39 million, and the hotel is expected to generate a running yield of over 6 per cent,” the statement noted.

Kwek Leng Beng, executive chairman of CDL, said the acquisition is a “once-in-a-lifetime chance” to secure an ultra-prime freehold site in Central London.

“Freehold sites in this location are exceptionally scarce, and it is even rarer to find one directly adjacent to our Copthorne Tara hotel,” he added.

The group will own two of the largest freehold sites in Kensington and Chelsea in London, following the deal.

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With this acquisition, CDL has expanded its Central London portfolio to over 3,000 hotel rooms.

The properties include The Biltmore Mayfair, Millennium Gloucester Hotel London and the Copthorne Tara Hotel London Kensington.