TMCnet News
VIETNAM'S SAIGONTOURIST TO BUY US HOTELHANOI, Jun 29, 2009 (AsiaPulse via COMTEX) -- Vietnam's Saigontourist has announced it plans to buy a hotel in the US city of San Francisco for US$44 million. The company intended to take over the 252-room hotel by the end of this year, general director Nguyen Huu Tho said. The hotel is located in Fishermans Wharf, a leading tourism centre in San Francisco where noted brands such as Intercontinental, Hilton, Sheraton, Hyatt and Marriot are found. Negotiations were underway with the Intercontinental Group to manage the hotel. Saigontourist had been interested in buying a hotel in San Francisco since 1990 because it was a popular tourist destination and twinned with Ho Chi Minh City, Tho said. Law firm Baker and MacKenzie was representing the company. The hotel, built in 2001, is the first the company will have bought outside Vietnam and if successful the company would consider buying more, Tho said. In HCM City, construction of the 40-storey Kim Do Hotel will begin at the end of this year while the Majestic Hotel will be finished next year. Saigontourist has nearly completed the Sai Gon Fair and Exhibition Centre in District 7. "At the moment, we have nearly achieved our target of $500 million revenue for 2010. From 2010-15, we aim to get a revenue of $1 billion," Tho said. (VNA) cg |