Millennium & Copthorne Hotels plc is a dynamic, global hotel company, which owns, asset manages and/or operates over 120 hotels in 19 countries around the world.
Background
In 1995 CDL Hotels International acquired the Copthorne group of hotels with properties in the UK, France and Germany, (a brand that had been growing since the mid-1980s), in a deal valued at £219 million. Millennium & Copthorne Hotels plc was then floated in 1996 on the London Stock Exchange. In Spring 1999 Millennium & Copthorne Hotels plc purchased the majority hotel interests of its main shareholder, CDL Hotels International Ltd in South East Asia and Australasia, for a sum of £556million. In November 1999 the company acquired the Seoul Hilton in Korea for £140million and then in December 1999, the company acquired Regal Hotels in the USA for a sum of £395million.
In June 2000 as part of a capital restructuring CDL Hotels International sold its shareholdings in Millennium & Copthorne to City Developments Ltd (CDL). CDL Hotels International changed its name and focus in the Autumn of 2000, to City e-Solutions Ltd, CES, a hospitality industry solutions provider. Spearheading the strategy for CES, is SWAN Holdings LTD, (SWAN), which is jointly owned by CES and Millennium & Copthorne, 85% and 15% respectively.