Japan’s Seibu Holdings plans to sell about 30 Prince-brand hotels to Singaporean fund

The Yomiuri Shimbun

14:14 JST, February 6, 2022

Seibu Holdings Inc. is planning to sell the real estate of some hotels of its subsidiary Prince Hotels Inc. to GIC, a Singaporean government-affiliated investment fund, for about ¥150 billion.

The buildings and other properties will be sold, but Prince Hotels will continue to operate the facilities.

An announcement is expected this month, once negotiations are finalized.

The hotels to be sold are about 30 facilities, including The Prince Park Tower Tokyo in the Shiba-Koen district in Tokyo’s Minato Ward.

The company plans to continue to own hotels in areas where large-scale development is underway, such as the Shinagawa district in Tokyo and Karuizawa in Nagano Prefecture.

“Nothing has been decided at the moment,” Seibu Holdings said in response to an inquiry by The Yomiuri Shimbun on Saturday.

Seibu Holdings’ hotel business has been hit hard by the drastic decrease in foreign visitors and the lack of domestic travel due to the coronavirus pandemic. To improve its financial situation, the company announced last year that the company would sell the Prince Hotel properties and focus on hotel operations.