Singapore-based City Developments, a majority owner of UK hotel group Millennium & Copthorne Hotels, has bid approximately £1.8 billion to acquire the remaining stake of the company through its firm Agapier Investments.
Millennium & Copthorne has reportedly struggled with building RevPAR in recent years, dropping 2.3 percent on a constant currency basis in 2016. (During the same period, IHG’s RevPAR increased by 1.8 percent.) Millennium stock was down 10 percent in the past five years prior to the bid announcement. The company's shares were originally sold at £6.49, up 0.34 percent before halt on selling the shares on Monday, Oct. 9, 2017.
CDL has planned to maintain M&C's business model and become the owner and operator of its properties. However, the company will not sell or repurpose any of the hotels in London or in New York.
Singapore's Kwek Leng Beng, chairman of Hong Leong Group, established Millennium & Copthorne following the acquisition of Copthorne Hotels from Aer Lingus. M&C's portfolio is spread across Europe, the U.S., the Middle East and Asia. Two of the group's properties are the Millennium Hotel in London's Mayfair and M Social Singapore, which was designed by Philippe Starck.