Katara Hospitality, Qatar Investment Authority's hotel unit, has denied a report from Bloomberg News stating that the company plans to sell two of its hotels in Europe operated by InterContinental Hotels Group.
QIA hasn't hired brokers to sell the two properties in Cannes, France and Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The group also still hasn't made a final decision on the sale, people familiar with the issue told Bloomberg.
"There's no intention to sell any of these assets, and it's not even a topic that was discussed," Sheikh Nawaf bin Jassim bin Jabor Al Thani, chairman of Katara Hospitality, told Bloomberg.
The investment fund acquired the InterContinental Amstel Amsterdam and the InterContinental Carlton Cannes in 2014 to expand within the luxury hotels market. Now, Katara Hospitality owns 21 hotels in Europe, including Le Royal Monceau, Raffles Paris, the Hotel Schweizerhof in Bern, Switzerland and The Westin Excelsior in Rome. The group also operates six hotels in the Middle East and Europe: The Avenue, A Murwab Hotel, Simaisma; Saraya Corniche Hotel and Grand Murwab City Center Hotel in Doha, Qatar; Sealine Beach, Murwab Resort in Mesaieed, Qatar; and Bürgenstock Resort Lake Lucerne in Switzerland.
Katara's pipeline includes an additional two hotels in Doha: Katara Towers, Lusail Marina District opening in 2020 and the 216-room City Gate Hotel opening in 2018, as well as the Tazi Palace Hotel, Tangier in Morocco opening in 2020. Katara is also partnering with Minor Hotels to open three new hotels in Doha and Souq Al Wakra, Qatar in spring 2018. The hotels owned by Katara will operate under Minor's Tivoli and Oaks brands.