Sources inform “Globes” that Dan Hotels (TASE: DANH), controlled by the Federmann family, has begun preliminary negotiations to acquire and/or manage the Royal Hotel Dead Sea. The 400-room Royal Hotel, in which $100 million has been invested, one of the largest hotels at the Dead Sea, is controlled by Jerusalem businessman Avi Dan.
A number of hotel chains have recently expressed interest in the Royal Hotel, a luxury hotel built to high standards, and one of the few large hotels in Israel not managed by a large management chain.
Dan Hotels is currently the largest hotel chain in Israel, together with the Fattal Hotel Management chain. The acquisition has strategic importance for the Dan Hotel chain, which has no hotel at the Dead Sea.
The negotiations are exploring two possibilities: acquisition and management by Dan Hotels, and management only. Dan Hotels owns most of the hotels it manages. The price for the Royal Hotel is likely to be in the tens of millions of dollars.
Dan Hotels said in response, “We do not comment on the company’s strategic affairs.”
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on July 14, 2004