Millennium & Copthorne Hotels (M&C) has agreed a joint venture with a Chinese real estate company to develop and operate a new £77m, five-star hotel in Beijing.
The international hotel group has teamed up with the Beijing Xiangjiang Xingli Real Estate Development Company to build a 28-storey, 520-bedroom Millennium Beijing in the heart of the city's new central business district.
The hotel, which is M&C's second project in China, will be located at the Beijing Fortune Plaza mixed-use development site. It is scheduled to open in the first half of 2008, in time for the Beijing Olympics.
Kwek Leng Beng, chairman of M&C hotels said: "Securing the Millennium Beijing anchors our presence in China and is a key development in our stated aim to grow in Asia."
M&C currently holds 30% of the joint venture, although this is expected to increase to 70% by the end of the year.
Chelsea FC to get two M&C hotels
M&C also announced today an agreement with Chelsea Football Club to operate two hotels at the Stamford Bridge stadium in London.
The Copthorne Hotel at Chelsea Village (160 rooms) and the Millennium Hotel at Chelsea Village (115 rooms) will open following substantial refurbishment and upgrade programmes to be completed this year.
The hotels will be operated under long-term management contacts, which will include all non-stadium food and beverage operations and meeting facilities.
M&C group chief executive Tony Potter said: "We are delighted to be working with the Premiership champions and look forward to managing the club's two hotel properties and restaurants.
"We intend to position the hotels on a global platform and in the UK to complement our two existing hotels at Premiership club locations, the Millennium hotel at the Madejski Stadium Reading and the Copthorne Hotel Manchester at Old Trafford."
By Emily Manson
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