InterContinental Hotels Group has today put 20 hotels worth more than £500m on the market as part of its on-going disposal programme.
The plan is to build up the group’s management and franchise business while reducing its ownership of hotels.
Most of the hotels put up for sale today are in North America and include the InterContinental hotels in Miami and Chicago, along with properties under the Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza brands.
They are expected to generate £39m of earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation in 2004.
A spokesman said the group intended to achieve at least net book value for the hotels and to retain the management contracts. “The market looks very positive in the US at the moment,” he said. “There is a real appetite for it.”
Today’s announcement means IHG has sold, or is seeking to sell, £945m-worth of hotels since its demerger in April 2003.
To date, it has sold 28 hotels for £323m (above the combined net book value) including the InterContinental Mayfair and the Holiday Inn Gatwick in the UK .
A further 13 hotels worth £110m, including the InterContinental Edinburgh, are currently on the market.
The group indicated that more potential disposals could be announced at its interim results in September, along with a return of capital to shareholders.
by Angela Frewin
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