Billionaire Kwek Leng Beng’s CDL Expands In London With $370 Million Holiday Inn Deal

ByIan Sayson,

Forbes Staff.

City Developments Ltd. (CDL)—controlled by billionaire Kwek Leng Beng and his family—bought Holiday Inn London for £280 million ($370 million), expanding its hospitality footprint in the U.K. capital

Copthorne Hotel Holdings, a wholly-owned unit of CDL completed the acquisition of the 706-room Holiday Inn London in Kensington High Street at £396,600 per room, the Singapore-based developer said in a statement. The hotel sits on a 6,356 square meter freehold property, offering long-term development potential, it said.

With the purchase, City Developments said it owns two of the largest freehold sites in London’s most affluent districts of Kensington and Chelsea. The acquisition also boosts the group’s portfolio to over 3,000 rooms in Central London, where it owns six hospitality assets including the 833-room Copthorne Tara Hotel and the 611-key Millennium Gloucester Hotel.