Singapore's Raffles Hotel sold for $476 mln

SINGAPORE, May 8 (Reuters) - Singapore's landmark Raffles Hotel, jointly owned by Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal's Kingdom Hotels International and U.S. private equity firm Colony Capital, has been sold for about S$650 million ($476 million), a local newspaper reported on Thursday.

Colony bought the 121-year-old hotel, which comes with an adjoining shopping arcade, for about S$200 million in 2005 as part of a bigger S$1.7 billion acquisition of the Raffles Holdings hotel chain, the Business Times said.

It cited unnamed sources as saying a preliminary deal had been signed with an overseas buyer, a family trust probably linked to a European family.

---Reuters

LaoPo

From a Saudi perspective.

JEDDAH - US private equity firm Colony Capital and Kingdom Hotels International, the hotel group owned by Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, on Thursday sold the iconic Raffles Hotel in Singapore to a consortium led by former Credit Suisse banker Mark Pawley for about S$650 million (€307 million).

Pawley is chief executive of Singapore-based private firm Oxley Capital, which specializes in real estate. However, an Oxley spokesman told newswire Reuters that the firm was not buyer. Local Singapore newspaper Business Times reported that the buyer behind Pawley’s bid was a family trust linked to a European family.

Colony and Kingdom Hotels acquired the hotel in 2005 for S$200 million as part of a larger acquisition of the Raffles Holdings hotel chain for S$1.7 billion.

Raffles Hotel was built in 1887. It will continue to be managed by Fairmont Raffles Hotel International after the sale.

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