Singapore’s CDL bids for full control of Millennium & Copthorne Hotels

Singapore's Hong Leong Group executive chairman Kwek Leng Beng at Grand Millennium, formerly The Regent, Kuala Lumpur. He is also chairman of London-listed Millennium & Copthorne Hotels plc, which comes under City Developments Ltd of Singapore. Starpix by Victor k.k.Ng

SINGAPORE: Singapore’s City Developments Ltd (CDL) has made an offer to buy the remaining shares of Millennium & Copthorne Hotels (M&C) it does not own, in a deal that values the hotels group at about £1.8bil (RM10bil).

The move, which amounts to purchasing a 34.8% stake for £624.3mil (RM3.47bil), would bring the operator of the Millennium, Grand Millennium, Copthorne and Kingsgate hotels back into the fold of Singaporean billionaire Kwek Leng Beng’s property empire.

London-listed M&C’s shares shot up 21.5% on news of the deal, after CDL said M&C shareholders would get 545 pence per share in cash and be paid a special dividend of 7.5 pence per share.

The entire offer represented a premium of about 21.4% to M&C’s closing share price on Friday.

M&C independent directors said in a joint statement that they considered the financial terms of the deal to be fair and reasonable, although they still need to officially approve the sale.

M&C has 130 hotels around the world, and has focused on building its footprint in major cities such as London, New York and Singapore. CDL said it would maintain M&C’s business model and did not intend to sell any of M&C’s hotels in London or New York.

The pound’s slide since Britain voted last year to leave the European Union has made some British companies more attractive to overseas suitors, including in the property sector. Chinese buyers have been the most active purchasers in the sector with C C Land, LKK Health and R&F Properties picking up trophy assets.

CDL is part of Kwek’s Hong Leong Group and indirectly held shares representing a 65.2% stake in M&C as of Oct 9.

CDL reduced its stake and listed M&C on the London Stock Exchange in 1996. In the first half of this year, the hotel group accounted for 49% of CDL’s revenue.

“As such, the offer helps to mitigate some of the discount for M&C imputed in CDL’s share price,” Jefferies analyst Krishna Guha said in a note, adding that CDL’s management will be able to improve operating metrics as trading conditions improve.

Higher costs, a string of attacks across Europe and competition from the likes of Airbnb have challenged trading at European hoteliers, including M&C.

The company has in response stalled certain projects and in August reported stronger demand at its hotels in London and Singapore.

Deutsche Bank and HSBC Bank acted as financial advisers to CDL, while Credit Suisse acted on behalf of M&C’s independent directors.

It was the second large deal announced by CDL in as many weeks. Last week, CDL and its joint venture partner said they will buy a freehold residential site on Singapore’s east coast for S$906.7mil, adding to a property deal frenzy in the city state this year. - Reuters