Huazhu Group buys Blossom Hill Hotels & Resorts
Huazhu Hotel Management Co., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Huazhu Group, has entered into share transfer agreements with Beijing Tsingpu Travel Culture Development Co. and Suzhou Tiancheng Jiaqi Tourism Industry Investment LLP, two shareholders of Blossom Hill Hotel Investment Management Co., Ltd., to acquire 71.2 percent of outstanding shares of Blossom Hill for RMB462.9 million ($67 million).
Upon completion of the acquisition, Huazhu will own an aggregate of 82.5 percent of the shares of Blossom Hill, and Blossom Hill Hotels & Resorts will become part of Huazhu’s hotel network. Huazhu may continue to acquire some remaining minority shareholders’ shares in Blossom Hill.
“We highly value Blossom Hill’s luxury, boutique hotels and resorts with aesthetic decor and cultural touch,” said Jenny Zhang, CEO of Huazhu Hotel Management Co. “We see this acquisition as a win-win combination for both Huazhu and Blossom Hill: with the addition of Blossom Hill hotels and resorts to our hotel portfolio, we are able to offer more diversified choices to our more than 100 million HUAZHU Rewards members; at the same time, this acquisition is also expected to improve Blossom Hill’s occupancy rate.”
Zhang, continued, “In the future, Huazhu will introduce Blossom Hill’s uniquely-designed and positioned cultural hotels and resorts into the urban market and develop the Blossom Hill brand into a leading brand in China’s cultural hotel and resort segment. By integrating Blossom Hill with our existing hotel portfolio and providing more choices for customers, we aim to further strengthen Huazhu’s presence in China’s upscale hotel and resort segment through this acquisition.”
The transaction is expected to close later this month.
Blossom Hill is a boutique hotel and resort operator founded in 2009, with its roots in Lijiang, Yunan Province. As of May 31, 2018, Blossom Hill Hotels & Resorts had 21 hotels, totaling 575 rooms, in operation, spanning across 10 tourist cities in China, including Lijiang, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Ningbo and Shangri-La.
