CDL Developments has sold the Millennium Hilton Seoul and adjoining land to Korean institutional investment manager IGIS Asset Management for KRW1.1trn (€750m).
Singapore-listed CDL said the sale was part of plans to recycle capital following its decision in 2019 to take full ownership of its London-listed international hotel arm Millennium & Copthorne (M&C) Hotels.
It is the fourth and largest hotel divestment from the M&C portfolio since the takeover.
Kwek Leng Beng, executive chairman of CDL and M&C, said: “We received several unsolicited offers and negotiated hard to maximise value.
“This sizeable divestment at a significant premium to book value was the impetus to sell without hesitation, and to realise a substantial profit.”
Kwek said he first led the company into the hotel industry in the 1970s and has since amassed a portfolio of valuable assets, many of which “have been held at book value for decades”.
At the end of June this year, M&C owned, managed and operated more than 140 hotels in about 80 locations throughout Asia, Europe, the Middle East, New Zealand and the US.
M&C acquired Millennium Hilton Seoul in the late 1990s and has since “steadfastly invested” in the hotel, driven optimal performance and extracting good value from the property, Kwek said.
“We have always believed this would be an asset that could provide tremendous value to shareholders at the right time and at the right price.”
Among the earlier disposals made from the M&C portfolio were Copthorne Hotel Birmingham in the UK and Millennium Hotel Cincinnati in the US.
The sale of Millennium Harvest House Boulder, also in the US, is expected to complete in 2022. Combined, the three assets will generate S$179m (€116m) in sales proceeds.
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