IHG and Duet India Hotels Group to Develop 19 Holiday Inn Express Hotels

NEW DELHI, April 6, 2011 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --

- IHG Signs 20-Year Management Contracts With Duet India Hotels Group to Develop 19 Holiday Inn Express Hotels by 2016

- First Hotel Opening Expected by Mid-2012

IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)], the world's largest hotel group by number of rooms, has signed a joint venture partnership with Duet India Hotels Group (DIHL), the hotel investment arm of global asset manager Duet Group, to develop 19 new Holiday Inn Express hotels across India.

IHG will invest through a 24% equity stake, making a multi-year investment of US$30 million into the partnership. This investment will go into a fund to support the building of the 19 hotels over the next five years. These 19 Holiday Inn Express hotels will add approximately 3,300 rooms to IHG's current India development pipeline of over 10,000 rooms (46 hotels) and are expected to be operational by 2016.

Richard Solomons, IHG's Chief Financial Officer and Head of Commercial Development, said, "This deal is a great example of our strategy in action. By investing a small amount of our own capital we have established a strategic relationship with a fantastic partner who knows the market, securing a future fee stream and opening up a huge opportunity for us to develop the Holiday Inn Express brand across India. With strong economic growth and an expanding middle class in India, we forecast strong future demand for mid-market and select service hotels, cementing Holiday Inn Express' position as one of the fastest growing brands in the hotel industry."

Upcoming Holiday Inn Express hotels will be primarily located in India's major metros and key secondary cities, which are well positioned to drive growth and continued investment opportunities including New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore.

"This venture marks a significant milestone for IHG. With these 19 new signings, we continue to add momentum to our current India development pipeline. IHG is strongly positioned to build a significant India footprint with a growing presence in India's key business and leisure hubs. Overall, we are on track to have a 150-hotel presence by 2020. The Holiday Inn Express brand will address the need for internationally branded and high-quality hotels for domestic travellers," said Jan Smits, Chief Executive Officer of IHG Asia Australasia. "Across the region, over the course of 2010 we signed new Holiday Inn Express deals in key locations including India, Singapore and Thailand. The growing presence of Holiday Inn Express in this region strengthens the brand's portfolio and introduces the brand to new guests."

Holiday Inn Express is one of the fastest growing hotel brands in the industry, opening on average two hotels a week globally. There are now 2,075 Holiday Inn Express hotels open and 494 hotels under development around the world. In India, over 75 percent of IHG's India pipeline is with the Holiday Inn family of brands.

Henry Gabay, Co-founder and Chairman, Duet Group, said, "We are extremely excited to partner with IHG and bring the fast-growing Holiday Inn Express brand to India. Mid-market hotels are the core focus of our hotel business in India and this deal will support the expansion of our growing hospitality development portfolio to its targeted 5,000-6000 rooms from 1,250 rooms today. IHG's 48-year track record in and continued commitment to India as well as Holiday Inn Express' strong brand presence and proven product globally make it an ideal partner for a fully integrated hotel development company like DIHL."

"The mid-market hotel space in India offers a compelling investment proposition given favourable demand-supply dynamics and an attractive build cost to operating returns equation. The strategic partnership with IHG provides DIHL with a strong platform to tap the full potential of this opportunity," said Anuj Gupta, Managing Partner and CEO India, Duet Group.

    IHG hotels in India

    InterContinental     4 open with 2 in the pipeline
    Crowne Plaza         3 open with 9 in the pipeline
    Holiday Inn          5 open with 28 in the pipeline
    Holiday Inn Express  0 open with 7 in the pipeline*

    * The IHG-Duet joint venture will see 3 active developments at the
      inception, with more developments being added progressively


    Current Size: 12 Hotels and 2191 rooms
    Notes to editor
    About Holiday Inn Express

Holiday Inn Express is a fresh, clean, uncomplicated hotel choice offering convenient, comfortable and affordable hotel accommodation throughout the world, for both business and leisure travellers. One of the fastest-growing hotel brands in the world, Holiday Inn Express has successfully built a niche for itself within the select service segment, positioned to meet the increasing demand for hotels that deliver on both quality and service, at a great price point.

Holiday Inn Express continues to distinguish itself in the market with innovative services and amenities, and a proprietary service culture that trains our employees to deliver genuine. Designed around travellers' needs, Holiday Inn Express offers everything required for an uncomplicated stay. More than just friendly service and stylish hotel rooms, guests enjoy high-speed Internet access, complimentary breakfast, large showers and cosy bedding that will leave them relaxed and recharged.

About IHG

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] is the world's largest hotel group by number of rooms. IHG franchises, leases, manages or owns, through various subsidiaries, over 4,400 hotels and more than 640,000 guest rooms in 100 countries and territories around the world. The Group owns a portfolio of well recognised and respected hotel brands including InterContinental(R) Hotels & Resorts, Hotel Indigo(R), Crowne Plaza(R) Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn(R) Hotels and Resorts, Holiday Inn Express(R), Staybridge Suites(R) and Candlewood Suites(R) and also manages the world's largest hotel loyalty programme, Priority Club(R) Rewards with 56 million members worldwide.

IHG has almost 1,300 hotels in its development pipeline, which is expected to create 160,000 jobs worldwide over the next few years.

InterContinental Hotels Group PLC is the Group's holding company and is incorporated in Great Britain and registered in England and Wales.

IHG offers information and online reservations for all its hotel brands at http://www.ihg.com and information for the Priority Club Rewards programme at http://www.priorityclub.com. For our latest news visit http://www.ihg.com/media, Twitter http://www.twitter.com/ihgplc or YouTube http://www.youtube.com/ihgplc.

About DIHL

Duet India Hotels Group (DIHL) is an established owner, developer and asset manager of internationally managed and branded full service business hotels pan India. Its current portfolio comprises 1,250 rooms (7 hotels) of which 2 hotels are operational and 5 hotels are under development. The company is targeting to expand its portfolio to 5,000-6,000 rooms within 5 years positioning it amongst the leading hotel owners/developers in India. DIHL was founded by UK financial group - Duet Group.

About Duet Group

Duet Group is a client-focused financial group specializing in Alternative Asset Management that is dedicated not only to generating superior investment returns, but also to delivering risk management, transparency and client service required by sophisticated investors. Duet Group was founded by Henry Gabay and Alain Schibl in June 2002 in London and has USD 2.4 billion of equity under management. Anuj Gupta joined as Managing Partner and CEO India in 2006 and Osman Semerci joined as Managing Partner and CEO Duet Group in 2008. Duet Group employs 75 professionals in London, New York, Tokyo, Singapore, New Delhi, Dubai and Istanbul.

SOURCE IHG