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Berjaya Land Bhd (BLand), a unit of Malaysian conglomerate Berjaya Corp Bhd, will buy the 359-room five-star InterContinental Hanoi Westlake Hotel from Tradewinds Corp Bhd under a US$75 million (RM
253.5 million) deal. Through the acquisition, the company intends to capitalise on the shortage of luxury hospitality units in the fast-growing Indo-Chinese nation.
The hotel, which is located on the shores of Hanoi's West Lake, will be managed by InterContinental Hotel Group, a global hospitality entity, with more than 3,700 hotels across nearly 100 countries in its portfolio.
BLand chief executive Datuk Francis Ng said in a statement, "It gives us the opportunity to participate in the growth of the Vietnamese tourism industry."
Signed last week, the deal will see BLand's wholly-owned Berjaya Leisure (Cayman) Ltd buying the entire stake in Tradewinds Corp's unit T.P.C. Development Ltd for US$25 million (RM84.5 million). T.P.C. owns 75 per cent of InterContinental Hanoi Westlake Hotel. The deal, which is expected to be completed by March 2008, will be financed via a combination of internal funds and bank loans.
Berjaya Leisure will also assume US$50 million (RM169 million) worth of inter-company debts owed by T.P.C to its parent Tradewinds Resources Sdn Bhd which, in turn, is entirely owned by Tradewinds Corp.
According to research firm ECM Libra Avenue, BLand has RM37.2 billion worth of overseas real estate contracts in China, Thailand and Vietnam. | 
