I-Bhd's unit inks hotel management agreement with Hilton Worldwide

KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 29): I-Bhd’s wholly-owned subsidiary City Centrepoint Sdn Bhd (CCSB) has entered into a management agreement with Hilton Worldwide Manage Ltd to appoint the latter to manage the operation of the 300-rooms DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel that will be developed in i-City, Shah Alam, Selangor.

Under the management agreement, Hilton Worldwide and/or its affiliates shall provide development and management services of the operation of the hotel.

The operating term under the agreement shall commence on the opening date and expire, subject to any extension at midnight on the expiration date, Dec 31 of the 20th full calendar year, following the commencement of the operating term.

I R&D Sdn Bhd, a fellow subsidiary of City Centrepoint, had earlier signed a Letter of Understanding in relation to the hotel with Hilton Worldwide on Dec 9, 2014; and on July 20 this year, had mutually extended the terms of the letter to Sept 30, 2015 to enable the parties to further their discussions on the transaction, as well as the definitive management agreement proposed to be entered into.

The agreement would provide CCSB an opportunity to leverage on the Hilton Worldwide’s experience and expertise in providing hotel management and development services.

The hotel, to be developed within the RM5 billion i-City township, is expected to see an investment cost of about RM250 million, to be funded mainly from I-Bhd’s internally-generated funds, and is expected to be completed by Dec 1, 2021.

At 3.17 pm today, I-Bhd shares were trading down 1 sen or 1.9% at 51.5 sen, with 41,100 shares traded and a market capitalisation of RM509.77 million.