31st Jan 2006 07:00
InterContinental Hotels Group PLC31 January 2006 31 January 2006 INTERCONTINENTAL HOTELS GROUP PLACES EUROPEAN ASSETS ON THE MARKET InterContinental Hotels Group PLC ("IHG") announces that it has today placed afurther portfolio of seven hotels on the market for disposal. These hotels arelocated in Continental Europe and all operate under the InterContinental brand.They comprise the InterContinental Amstel Amsterdam, InterContinental Budapest,InterContinental Carlton Cannes, InterContinental De La Ville Rome,InterContinental Frankfurt, InterContinental Madrid and the InterContinentalVienna. These hotels are all being marketed with an IHG management contract. It isexpected that, as with previous portfolio disposals, it will take up to ninemonths to complete the disposal process. Jones Lang LaSalle and Merrill Lynchare advising IHG on the transaction. IHG also intends to dispose of a portfolio of owned mid-scale European hotels,which are expected to remain under IHG's brands. The timing and structure of thesale process for this portfolio will be announced in due course. These two portfolios of hotels have a net book value of approximately £600m, andconstitute the final tranche of hotels that IHG had previously announced itwould sell. These two portfolios generated revenues of EUR 310m, EBIT of EUR 35mand EBITDA of EUR 67m in 2004. These disposals are a continuation of IHG's strategy of growing its managementand franchise businesses and reducing asset ownership. This strategy hasresulted in IHG having disposed of or, including these two portfolios, being inthe process of disposing of, 176 hotels with a net asset value of more than£2.8bn. Aggregate proceeds received to date have been above net asset value. IHGhas to date announced the return of £2.25bn to shareholders, of which £1.95bnhas already been completed. As previously stated, further cash returns will bemade to shareholders in due course. Further details of hotels placed on the market today: Hotel RoomsInterContinental Amstel Amsterdam 79InterContinental Budapest 398InterContinental Carlton Cannes 338InterContinental De La Ville Rome 192InterContinental Frankfurt 770InterContinental Madrid 307InterContinental Vienna 453Total 2,537 For further information, please contact:Investor Relations (Gavin Flynn, Paul Edgecliffe-Johnson): +44 (0) 1753 410 176 +44 (0) 7808 098 972Media Enquiries (Leslie McGibbon): +44 (0) 1753 410 425 +44 (0) 7808 094 471 Jones Lang LaSalle (Ian Chappell) +44 (0) 20 7399 5937 Merrill Lynch (Kirk Lindstrom) +44 (0) 20 7995 1858 Note to Editors: InterContinental Hotels Group PLC of the United Kingdom (LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG(ADRs)) is the world's largest hotel group by number of rooms. InterContinentalHotels Group owns, manages, leases or franchises, through various subsidiaries,almost 3,600 hotels and 539,000 guest rooms in nearly 100 countries andterritories around the world. The Group owns a portfolio of well recognised andrespected hotel brands including InterContinental(R) Hotels & Resorts, CrownePlaza(R) Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn(R) Hotels and Resorts, Holiday InnExpress(R), Staybridge Suites(R), Candlewood Suites(R) and Hotel IndigoTM, andalso manages the world's largest hotel loyalty programme, Priority Club(R)Rewards. InterContinental Hotels Group offers information and online reservations for allits hotel brands at www.ichotelsgroup.com and information for the Priority ClubRewards programme at www.priorityclub.com. For the latest news from InterContinental Hotels Group, visit our online PressOffice at www.ihgplc.com/media. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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