Completion of Refinancing of Hotels

RNS Number : 6077U

PPHE Hotel Group Limited

03 December 2013

 



3 December 2013

PPHE Hotel Group Limited

(the Company)

Completion of the refinancing of London and Dutch hotels

Further to the announcement on 29 November 2013, the Company is pleased to announce that the refinancing with Aareal Bank AG (Aareal) of three of the group's four owned London hotels - Park Plaza Riverbank, Park Plaza Victoria and Park Plaza Sherlock Holmes - and five Dutch hotels which it operates and owns - Park Plaza Amsterdam Airport, Park Plaza Victoria Amsterdam, Park Plaza Vondelpark, Amsterdam, Park Plaza Eindhoven, and Park Plaza Utrecht - (together the Hotels) was successfully completed today.  The Hotels were previously financed by three separate facilities provided by Aareal with various maturity dates between December 2013 and September 2017 (the Previous Facilities).

The facility, which is for 5 years, comprises a sterling tranche of up to £167.6 million and a Euro tranche of up to €153.2 million. The sterling tranche includes up to £7.0 million for capital expenditure at the London Hotels and the Euro tranche includes up to €7.5 million for capital expenditure at the Dutch Hotels and, subject to satisfaction of certain conditions, €24.0 million to refinance the existing development facility for the recently opened art'otel amsterdam, which matures in Q1 2014.  

Interest on the new facility has been partially hedged for the term of the facility by means of interest rate swaps with Aareal which take account of the breakage costs of terminating the Previous Facilities.  A total of £136.5 million, which was drawn down from the £167.6 million of the sterling tranche, has been hedged at a fixed rate of 5.665% per annum (which includes the margin and the breakage costs); the remainder (including any amounts to be drawn for capital expenditure) is unhedged and will bear a floating interest rate of 3-month LIBOR plus a margin.

A total of €121.7 million, which was drawn down from the €153.2 million of the Euro tranche, has been hedged at a fixed rate of 4.599% per annum (which includes the margin and breakage costs).  If the option to refinance the art'otel amsterdam is exercised, an estimated further €17 million of the Euro tranche is required, under the terms of the facility, to be hedged with Aareal.  The remainder of the Euro tranche (including amounts to be drawn down for capital expenditure and any amount in excess of an estimated €17 million used to refinance the art'otel amsterdam) is unhedged and will bear a floating interest rate of 3-month EURIBOR plus a margin.

The facility is secured by, inter alia, first legal charges over each Hotel and pledges over the shares in each hotel owner and their related operating subsidiaries.

Enquiries:

PPHE Hotel Group Limited

Chen Moravsky, Chief Financial Officer

Tel: [phone]

Hudson Sandler

Wendy Baker/Kate Hoare

Tel: [phone]

Note to editors:

PPHE Hotel Group Limited is a Guernsey registered company and through its subsidiaries, jointly controlled entities and associates, owns, leases, develops, operates and franchises full service upscale and lifestyle hotels in major gateway cities and regional centres, predominantly in Europe.

The majority of the Group's hotels operate under two distinct brands, Park Plaza® Hotels & Resorts and art'otel®.  The Group has an exclusive licence from Carlson, a global privately held hospitality and travel company, to develop and operate Park Plaza Hotels & Resorts in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.  The art'otel brand is fully owned by PPHE Hotel Group.  The Group has a minority ownership interest in the Arenaturist group, one of Croatia's leading hospitality companies.

The portfolio of owned, leased, managed and franchised hotels comprises 38 hotels in operation offering a total of more than 8,300 rooms.  The development pipeline includes four new hotels, which together are expected to add more than 1,100 rooms to the portfolio by the end of 2016

Our company:

www.pphe.com

Our brands:

www.parkplaza.com

www.artotels.com

www.arenaturist.com

For images and logos visit www.vfmii.com/parkplaza

 

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