Katara taking stake in 5 IHG hotels in Europe

Arabian Business staff writer, May 19th, 2014

Katara Hospitality is acquiring joint control of a group of luxury hotels currently managed by InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) in five European cities, it has been reported.

According to a Bloomberg, the Qatari sovereign wealth fund unit is taking on the Carlton InterContinental in Cannes, Amsterdam’s Amstel InterContinental plus hotels in Frankfurt, Madrid and Rome, citing a notice on the website of the European Commission’s competition authority.

The hotels are currently managed by and will continue to be jointly controlled by the IHG, it said.

Katara's international portfolio includes the Raffles Hotel Singapore, Le Royal Monceau - Raffles Paris, Schweizerhof HotelBern and Renaissance Sharm El Sheikh Golden View Beach Resort in Egypt.

International properties under development include Bürgenstock Resort Lake Lucerne (opening 2015), Royal Savoy Lausanne (opening 2014), Comoros Beach Resort (opening 2015), Tazi Palace Hotel Tangier (opening 2015), and a hospitality complex in Gambia (opening 2016).

QIA’s investments include Harrods Group, which Qatar Holdings took control of in 2010 for $2.22bn; a 26 percent stake in British food retailer J Sainsbury in 2010, and a 12.8 percent stake in French media group Lagardère SCA. It also has a 1.03 percent stake in LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy)

Last week, Katara Hospitality announced that it had signed a management agreement with Starwood Hotels and Resorts to run the luxury Excelsior Hotel Gallia in Milan.

Owned by Katara, Excelsior Hotel Gallia will open in November following an extensive renovation and will become part of Starwood's Luxury Collection.

The opening will mark The Luxury Collection's seventh hotel in Italy, as the brand remains on track to surpass 100 hotels globally in the next five years.