Refinancing of Park Plaza Westminster Bridge Hotel

RNS Number : 0720Y

PPHE Hotel Group Limited

12 May 2016

 

12 May 2016

PPHE Hotel Group Limited

Refinancing of Park Plaza Westminster Bridge Hotel

PPHE Hotel Group Limited (the Company), which together with its subsidiaries (the Group) owns, leases, develops, operates and franchises full service upscale and lifestyle hotels in major gateway cities and regional centres, predominantly in Europe, is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement to refinance its interests in Park Plaza Westminster Bridge London (the Hotel).

The new £182.4 million facility is for a term of 12 years. £172.4 million of the facility will bear a fixed interest rate of 3.785% per annum and the balance will bear a competitive floating interest rate.

The new facility has been arranged with AIG Asset Management (Europe) Limited (AIG) investing on behalf of certain of its funds and is part of an ongoing programme for the long term refinancing of certain of the Group's assets following the successful refinancing of Park Plaza Victoria London in April 2016.

The new facility will be secured by, inter alia, first legal charges of all of the Group's ownership interests in the Hotel and pledges over the shares in the various companies that own such interests in the Hotel. An independent valuation of the Group's ownership interests in the Hotel (including 499 rooms in the Hotel and the public areas) obtained for the purpose of the refinancing valued such interests at £370.0 million whereas those interests as at 31 December 2015 had a book value of £144.1 million.

The new facility will be used to repay £104.2 million of the Bank Hapoalim Luxembourg (SA) facility  which has a maturity date of 1 June 2018, and the balance will be used for general corporate purposes.

The new facility agreement is subject to certain conditions precedent being fulfilled, and funding is expected to take place on Wednesday 18 May 2016.

Boris Ivesha, President & Chief Executive Officer of the Company, commented:

"The current favourable market conditions have enabled us to continue our ongoing programme for the long term refinancing of assets within the Group. This agreement marks the start of a new relationship with AIG Asset Management (Europe) Limited and enables us to further invest in our flagship hotel, Park Plaza Westminster Bridge London, as we remain focused on growing our market share and delivering great customer service."

Enquiries:

PPHE Hotel Group Limited
Chen Moravsky, Deputy Chief Executive Officer & Chief Financial Officer	Tel: [phone]
Hudson Sandler Financial Public Relations
Wendy Baker / Katie Matthews	Tel: [phone]

Notes to editors

PPHE Hotel Group Limited is a Guernsey registered company and through its subsidiaries, jointly controlled entities and associates, owns, leases, operates, franchises and develops 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 the Group.

The Group has a majority 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 five new hotel projects and one hotel extension and reconfiguration. These developments are expected to add nearly 1,100 rooms to our portfolio by the end of 2016 and an additional 500 rooms by the end of 2019.

Our Company:
www.pphe.com

Our Hotel Brands:
www.parkplaza.com
www.artotels.com
www.arenaturist.com

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

Forward-looking statements

This announcement may contain certain "forward-looking statements' which reflect the Company's and/or the Directors' current views with respect to financial performance, business strategy and future plans, both with respect to the Group and the sectors and industries in which the Group operates. Statements which include the words "expects", "intends", "plans", "believes", "projects", "anticipates", "will", "targets", "aims", "may", "would", "could", "continue" and similar statements are of a future or forward-looking nature. All forward-looking statements address matters that involve risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, there are or will be important factors that could cause the Group's actual results to differ materially from those indicated in these statements. Any forward-looking statements in this announcement reflect the Group's current views with respect to future events and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to the Group's operations, results of operations and growth strategy. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this announcement. Subject to any legal or regulatory obligations, the Company undertakes no obligation publicly to update or review any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to the Group or individuals acting on behalf of the group are expressly qualified in their entirety by this paragraph. Nothing in this announcement should be considered as a profit forecast.

 

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