Hals Development discharged from Beijing

The historic hotel in Moscow was sold to the owner of the Sochi “Pearl”, previously Chinese investors claimed it.
29.01.2020
Vedomosti
Origin source
Hals-Development, a part of VTB Group, has reached an agreement with JSC Zhemchuzhina Hotel Complex to sell it a 100% stake in Beijing Hotel and Office Complex OJSC. This is stated in the message of the parties. The deal is scheduled to be completed by July 31, 2020.

Hotel "Beijing" with a total area of ​​25,800 square meters. m is located near the station. m. Mayakovskaya in Moscow. It was built in 1958 as a symbol of friendship between the USSR and China.

In 2006, the Moscow government transferred the hotel to Intourist, a company owned by AFK Sistema, in exchange for a large stake in the latter. In 2011, the hotel was sold to Sistema-Hals (now Hals-Development), which by that time had passed over VTB debts. The company planned to rebuild Beijing into a 5-star hotel and agreed with luxury operator Fairmont Hotels and Resorts to manage it. But the deal fell through.

Sochi "Pearl" belongs to the structure of the Union of marins groups, one of the largest hotel owners in Russia. Among its other assets are Yalta-Intourist in Crimea, the Marins Park Hotel chain in Sochi, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, and others. In Moscow, the company owns the Chaika pool in Turchaninov Lane. It was bought at auction at the VTB structure.

The main owner of Soyuz Marins Group was considered businessman Alexander Kulikov. In November 2016, he died in a helicopter crash in the Crimea. Who now owns the company is unknown. Vedomosti sent a request to the Union of Marins Group

There were other contenders for Beijing. In 2018, Chinese China Chengtong (managing assets of about $ 15 billion) became interested in buying a hotel, Reuters wrote.

But in January 2019, another Chinese company, Sichuan Railway Investment Group (SRIG), signed an agreement to acquire Beijing. She specializes mainly in the construction and management of railways, expressways. But this deal fell through. According to sources close to the various sides of the negotiations, SRIG did not receive approval from the Chinese authorities.

In the spring of 2019, Hals Development put up Beijing at an open auction. He hoped to sell the hotel for 5.6 billion rubles, but no one was willing to buy it.

How much the "Union of marins groups" will pay for "Beijing" is not said in the message. On December 11, the owners of the Pearl approved a deal to buy a hotel at a price of 4.8 billion rubles, the protocol of the extraordinary meeting of its shareholders said. The owner of the management company Ivashkevich Hospitality, Stanislav Ivashkevich, says the hotel’s market value is around $ 35–40 million (2.2–2.5 billion rubles). For Soyuz Marins Group, this is most likely a fashion deal, the first hotel in Moscow, he says.

Ivashkevich adds that Beijing is one of the last historical sites in the city, which still operates as a hotel. However, according to him, Soyuz Marins Group has extensive experience in managing hotels, so it will be able to achieve improved financial performance of Beijing and, as a result, a faster payback period. 

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