Plans Underway To Merge Grande Bretagne And King George Hotels

The Hyatt group of Thessaloniki, which has acquired a majority of shares in the Grande Bretagne hotel, and the Latsis-owned Eurobank are said to be close to finalizing an agreement to merge the classic Athens-center hotel and the defunct King George Hotel that sits empty next to it.

According to a press report, the two groups have agreed on a basic framework of cooperation and will iron out details in an upcoming meeting.

Eurobank, which owns the King George, plans to add the old unit to the Grand Bretagne and buy additional shares in the latter, as well as launch a share capital increase of between 15 and 20 billion drachmas. If negotiations prove successful, the two hotels will be fully renovated and later be utilized as a single property.

The cost of upgrading the two units is estimated at 28 billion drachmas and could be completed in a short period of time. Both sides aim to boost Lampsa’s profits in 2001 and hope the figure reaches 5 billion drachmas next year.

The Grand Bretagne, under contract management with Starwood, is not expected to have a problem with the new owner Hyatt. The two international hotel groups share close relations on an international level.