Rezidor sells stake in Regent
Rezidor Hotel Group has sold its stake in the Regent luxury hotel brand for €9.5m (£8.3m).
Acquirer Formosa International Hotels Corporation, based in Taiwan, will gain all brand intellectual property, as well as the hotel management and lease contracts for properties in operation or under development.
Regent is owned by US hotel giant Carlson, which is disposing of it to concentrate on developing its core Radisson and Park Inn brands as it looks to double the size of its network to more than 1,500 hotels by 2015.
Since 2003, Rezidor has held master franchise rights for the Regent brand in Europe and the Middle East. The company estimates that the sale of its part of the business will improve earnings by €2m to €3m (£2.6m) a year after completion later this month.
Kurt Ritter, chief executive of Rezidor, said: “After a careful consideration, we came to the conclusion that Formosa provided an excellent fit to Regent’s future.
“They are exclusively focused on the luxury hotel segment, and are committed to growing the brand internationally.”
Rezidor also revealed today that occupancy had improved across Europe in line with improving sentiment, with a significant recovery in Germany. Despite this revPAR was 0.1 per cent down for the first quarter at €54.6 (2009: €54.7) with average rate still lagging behind.
