Major Chinese hotel group Jin Jiang Hotels Group, which has been on a buying spree since late last year, is continuing to grow through acquisitions. The company has invested approximately US$289.8 million for an 80-percent stake in the midrange Vienna Hotel Group and its restaurants, according to ChinaTravelNews.
Jin Jiang Hotels outbid major competitor HNA Hospitality Group and property developer giant Sino-Ocean in the acquisition bid, ChinaTravelNews reported.
The acquisition of Vienna Hotels Group, which is based in Shenzhen, China, will add an additional 479 hotels with 60,000 rooms to Jin Jiang Hotels’s portfolio.
Shenzhen-based Vienna Hotel Group was established in 1993 and its portfolio is comprised of three- to five-star business hotels in more than 100 cities across China under six brands, including the Vienna Hotel, Venus Royal Hotel and Vienna Apartment Hotel.
According to ChinaTravelNews, Vienna's Wudaoxiang restaurant chain will also be included in the acquisition deal. Wudaoxiang has more than 40 restaurants under four brands with over 2,000 employees. It enjoys extremely profitable operations and a strong presence in southern China.
Vienna Hotel Group’s restaurant businesses will supplement Jin Jiang Hotels’s own extensive restaurant operations.
Most recently, Hotel Management reported that Jin Jiang is planning to purchase 80 percent of Plateno Hotel Group's shares and the two groups will continue to operate independently.
http://www.hotelmanagement.net/mergers-acquisitions/jin-jiang-plateno-aim-to-create-chinese-group-with-global-ambitions-32035
Once completed, the newly formed Jin Jiang-Plateno merger will emerge as the largest hotel group in China with a total of 4,585 hotels with 475,000 rooms, 1.5 times larger than the current top ranking hotel group Homeinns, according ChinaTravelNews.
In addition, rumors have been flying that the combined group could attempt to acquire Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, or another U.S. hotel company.
Jin Jiang's deal to acquire France's Louvre Hotels Group from Starwood Capital Group was finalized in the first quarter.
Through Starwood affiliate Star SDL Investment Co., Groupe du Louvre and its 100-percent indirect subsidiary Louvre Hotels Group were sold to the Luxemburg-based subsidiary of Shanghai Jin Jiang International Hotels Development Co., Ltd., for an amount of €1.3 billion. Louvre Hotels Group is the second-largest hotel group in Europe, with a network of more than 1,100 hotels (more than 90,000 rooms) in more than 40 countries worldwide.
Jin Jiang's relationship with the Louvre Hotels Group dates back to November 2011, when the two established a partnership via a co-branding program to selected hotels in major cities of China and France.
When Jin Jiang announced its acquisition of Groupe du Louvre last November it cited the outbound Chinese market as well as a desire to enter the international market in general as the driving force behind the deal.