Skip to content

Singapore Raffles reported to be for sale

Raffles, which oozes colonial grandeur and was renowned in its heyday as a favourite drinking den for writers like Somerset Maugham, Joseph Conrad and Rudyard Kipling. It is also the home of the Singapore Sling cocktail.

Owner, Prince Alwaleed of Saudi Arabia, is looking to sell a number of assets because of the global downturn. Fairmont Raffles Hotels International, in which the Prince's Kingdom Holding Company has a controlling stake, is seeking buyers for its remaining hotel assets, and it is understood he may even be prepared to sell his stake in the company itself.

The Prince has suffered sharp falls in the value of some of his biggest investments in companies like Songbird Estates, the majority owner of Canary Wharf, Euro Disney and News Corporation. Kingdom Hotel Investments, a London-listed vehicle in which he has a 55% has lost more than two thirds of its value in the past 12 months.

According to Fortune, the Prince's wealth has fallen from $21 billion to about $13 billion over the past year, putting him 22nd in the magazine's list of the world's top billionaires, although the Prince himself claimed the figure understated his riches.

There are also reports that he could sell other hotels or stakes in them including Movenpick Hotels, the Swiss chain and even The Savoy in London, which is due to reopen at the end of the year after a $100 million refurbishment.

Fairmont Raffles, created from the merger three years ago of the Fairmont and Raffles groups, has 123 hotels under the Fairmont, Raffles, and Swisshotel brands.

Related