The BLUE Sydney, a Taj Hotel, wins Merger & Acquisition Deal of the Year Award

Merger & Acquisition Deal of the Year and the Reggie Shiu Development of the Year award winners were announced at the Hotel Investment Conference Asia Pacific (HICAP), which drew a record crowd of nearly 700 delegates to the InterContinental Hong Kong between 11-13 October 2006.

The BLUE Sydney, a Taj Hotel, was named the Merger & Acquisition Deal of the Year. The Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL), which owns and operates Taj Hotels, Resorts and Palaces, acquired the 100-room W Sydney from the Harileela Group for A$36 million. The property was re-launched as BLUE Sydney, a Taj Hotel in February 2006. Nominees in this category included Kingdom Hotels Investment’s May 2006 acquisition of the 352-room Crowne Plaza Karon Beach resort, subsequently renamed Movenpick Resort & Spa Karon Beach, Phuket, from Lasalle Investment Management for US$98.5 million in May 2006 and Lippo Group’s and Usaha Tegas’s acquisition of control of Meritus Hotels and Resorts through their initial acquisition of a 55.04% stake in Overseas Union Enterprises Limited (OUE) from UOB and its affiliates. This stake was increased to over 96% in a subsequent general offering valuing OUE at USD$1.1billion.

Wynn Resort, Macau was selected as the Reggie Shiu Development of the Year. Constructed at a cost of US$1.2 billion and financed through an international syndication of investment banks, the 600-room Wynn Resort has established a new standard that sets the tone for future casino resort development in Macau. Nominees in this category included Yau Lee Holdings’s 269-room Express by Holiday Inn, Hong Kong; the Jin Mao Group’s 501-room Hilton Resort & Spa, Sanya, featuring architecture design by Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo and interior design by CSL Hong Kong; and the 80-room InterContinental Thalasso-Spa, Bora Bora, featuring architectural design by Philippe Granou and interior design by Sylvain Proyart.

Nominees in each category were chosen by a special committee comprised of senior level hotel industry leaders, and the winners were selected by a vote of the HICAP delegates.

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