RIO DE JANEIRO Brazil Hospitality Group has acquired Brascan Imobiliaria Hotelaria e Turismo SA, which owns the 418-key InterContinental Rio. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
“This acquisition adds a great icon of Brazil’s hotel industry to the company’s portfolio, which is closing the year with 38 hotels in its network,” says Brazil Hospitality President Pieter J.F. van Voorst Vader. “In 2011, we will continue with our aggressive growth rate, with plans to add at least 1,500 new rooms to our chain. The consolidation of our brand throughout the country will follow, and with no doubt, Rio de Janeiro will be one of our main markets.”
The company plans a modernization initiative for the property next year. Located adjacent to a golf course, the hotel—perhaps the most famous in the city—includes two pools, a sauna, a fitness center, two tennis courts and two restaurants.
The hotel was the site of an August shootout between Rio police and a local drug gang. That incident, which included 35 guests and staff held hostage for three hours, ended with one passerby dead and 10 gang members arrested.
Brazil Hospitality separately announces that it will be part owner of Projeto São Paulo Fair, a large real estate complex next to that city’s Avenida Faria Lima that consists of a commercial office building and a residential tower. The company will reinvest revenues generated from the project into new hotel acquisitions and management deals, with a focus on business tourism.
The company aims to build 4,000 guestrooms in 30 cities in the next five years. Brazil Hospitality holds the master franchise rights to the Golden Tulip brand in South America.
