Last checked at 3 Apr 2009 07:00
3 April 2009
Park Plaza Hotels Limited
("Park Plaza" or "the Group")
Banking facility for Park Plaza Westminster Bridge London Project
Park Plaza is pleased to announce that its wholly owned subsidiary, Marlbray Limited, has signed an agreement with Bank Hapoalim to increase the existing £221 million facility for construction of the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge London project, to £248 million. The loan now covers the total project development cost.
The original £221 million loan, of which £180.5 million has been drawn down as at 31 March 2009, carries an interest rate of LIBOR plus 2.15% and its term remains to completion of the project. The additional £27 million, which covers the development costs of the additional floor and a further banqueting space, carries an interest rate based on LIBOR plus 3% and its term is also to completion of the project. 818 of the 1,021 rooms at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge have been sold and the €53.6 million of deposits received are held on the balance sheet as restricted deposits which are excluded from the Group's €54.6 million liquid assets below. The financing for this project is secured against these sales.
As announced on 26 March in the Group's Preliminary Results for the year ended December 31 2008, Park Plaza's net debt at the financial year end was €282.3 million (as at 30 June 2008: €267.9 million). The Group had €54.6 million of liquid assets, of which cash and cash equivalents were €33 million (as at 30 June 2008: €60.1 million) and UK Treasury bond investments maturing on 31 March 2009 were €21.6 million (as at 30 June 2008: nil).
Enquiries:
| Park Plaza Hotels | |
| Boris Ivesha, Chief Executive Officer | Tel: +44 (0)20 7034 4800 |
| Chen Moravsky, Chief Financial Officer | Tel: +31 (0)20 717 8603 |
| Hudson Sandler | Tel: +44 (0)20 7796 4133 |
| Jessica Rouleau / Wendy Baker / Fran Read |
Notes to Editors
Park Plaza Hotels Limited is owner, operator and franchisor of hotels in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The majority of the group's hotels operate under the Park Plaza Hotels & Resorts brand (part of Carlson Hotels Worldwide), over which the Group has exclusive rights in 56 countries in EMEA, or art'otel, a brand which the company fully owns. Park Plaza Hotels also manages the luxury all-suite Plaza on the River - Club and Residence, London.
Through it strategic partnership with Carlson, one of the world's largest travel and hospitality companies, Park Plaza Hotels has access to Carlson's powerful reservation and distribution system, airline partnerships with 21 airlines, loyalty programmes such as goldpointsplusSM for guests and Look To Book® for travel agents and cross-selling opportunities.
There are currently 38 hotels and aparthotels and over 7,000 rooms in the Group's portfolio. By the end of 2012, the Group's committed projects and territorial franchise agreements are expected to increase the number of rooms to over 13,000.
Projects under development include Park Plaza Marrakech (2009), art'otel cologne (2009), art'otel marrakech (2009), Park Plaza Westminster Bridge London (2010), Park Plaza Nuremberg (2010), and art'otel london hoxton (2012).
Park Plaza Hotels' shares are admitted to trading on London's AIM Stock Market.