ASIA Travel Tips.com

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Hosts of the 10th International Hotel Investment Forum (IHIF) have confirmed the finalists for the prestigious Deal of the Year Awards. The Deal of the Year Awards will be presented 7 March 2007 at the InterContinental Hotel in Berlin, Germany, in the categories of Single Asset, New Development, and Portfolio.

Finalists in the Single Asset category are the Statuto Group’s purchase of the 118 room Four Seasons Milan (Italy) from Quinlan Private for a reported price of €220 million, Hyatt International’s and JER Partners’s purchase of the 267 room Great Eastern Hotel (London, UK) from Blackstone and Conran Holdings for £150 million, and Strategic Hotels and Resorts’ purchase of the 236 room Marriott London Grosvenor Square (UK) from Blackstone for a reported ₤103 million.

Finalists in the New Development category are the 279 room Hilton Manchester Deansgate (UK), developed by the Beetham Organisation at a cost of £50million; the 99 room Mandarin Oriental, Prague (Czech Republic), developed by a private equity fund at a cost of €50 million and acquired after opening by a newly formed joint venture between Cedar Capital Partners and Morgan Stanley; and the 205 room The Hoxton Hotel (London, UK), developed by Willow Street Hotel Ltd. at a cost of ₤18 million.

Finalists in the Portfolio category are Hilton Hotels Corporation’s acquisition of Hilton International Co. for approximately £3.3 billion in cash, Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund’s (MSREF) acquisition of seven European InterContinental Hotels Group properties for £440million, and The Royal Bank of Scotland’s acquisition of the Marriott Joint Venture properties from Whitbread and Marriott International for £951million.

Regarding the Deal of the Year Awards, IHIF co-host Jim Burba, president of Burba Hotel Network said, “The year 2006 was a very active one for ‘deals’ in Europe, and this is reflected in both the quantity and quality of all the candidates from which the finalists were selected by the nominating committee.”

The final selection of the winners will be made by a vote of the IHIF sponsors.

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