His Royal Highness The Duke of York, KG Attends 'Topping Out' Ceremony
At the Forthcoming InterContinental® London - The O2
February 10, 2015 - An official 'Topping Out' ceremony was held on Thursday 5th February to mark the completion of the highest point in the structure of the impressive 18 storey luxury hotel, InterContinental® London - The O2, opening Autumn/Winter 2015 in the historic Royal Borough of Greenwich.
At the construction site on the Greenwich Peninsula, adjacent to The O2, The Duke of York, joined key stakeholders involved in the landmark development to celebrate the milestone, including hotel operator and management company The Arora Group, private equity real estate firm Queensgate Investments LLP on behalf of Queensgate Investments Fund I, AEG Europe (owners of The O2) and InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), from which the consortium secured a franchise agreement for the InterContinental® brand.
Speaking at the ceremony, Surinder Arora, Founder and Chief Executive of The Arora Group, commented, “We are delighted to have reached this significant milestone in the hotel's construction. Working alongside great partners, we're on track to open one of the most significant new hotel developments London has witnessed for several years, with events space to rival many of Europe's largest conference venues and fantastic new leisure and business facilities to join the vibrant mix of entertainment and corporate space here in Greenwich.”
Jason Kow, Chief Executive of Queensgate Investments LLP added, “The InterContinental hotel and Conference Centre will be the best in class hotel in London, together with the adjacent Residences and annexed to the world's largest music venue, in the most exciting rejuvenation area in London. The transaction's success is testament to our strategy to pursue attractive capital value protected transactions, partnership with premier operating partners and opportunities with multiple value creation angles.”
Angela Brav, Chief Executive Officer of IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group), Europe, also commented: "I'm delighted to see great progress at InterContinental London - The O2 only weeks after we opened our latest European InterContinental hotel in Dublin. All InterContinental hotels are icons of luxury and InterContinental London - The O2 will be no different. We now look forward to opening the hotel and providing our guests with authentic experiences they will truly treasure.”
Designed to be sustainable to BREEAM 'Excellent' standards, the InterContinental® London - The O2, is part of a major development scheme on the Greenwich Peninsula, a destination cited as London's most exciting new district following the 2012 Olympics and subsequent regeneration programme.
The hotel features 453 spacious guestrooms and suites, luxury spa with indoor pool, destination restaurants and bars - including an all-day dining restaurant, Tea Salon and rooftop Sky Bar - and a dedicated conference centre with an impressive 3,100sqm pillar-free ballroom accommodating up to 3000 guests at full capacity and 20 additional meeting rooms.
Its position on the banks of the river Thames allows for panoramic views across the water to Canary Wharf which is visible through floor-to-ceiling glass within its 1,600sqm pre-function space, providing a glittering backdrop for award ceremonies, gala dinners and full range of corporate events.
InterContinental London - The O2 is managed and operated by The Arora Group under a franchise agreement with InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG®).
For more information please contact
Julia Gosling at Davies Tanner
+44 (0)1892 617909
[email protected]
Or
Esther Ehrhardt - Commercial Assistant - Arora Group
+44 (0) 20 8757 7771
[email protected]
About the Arora Group
One of the UK's fastest growing privately-owned hotel companies, Arora Group has made a name for itself through the design, construction and operation of luxury hotels, with exceptional levels of hospitality. The group is currently operating 2,838 bedrooms and 114 meeting rooms across 7 hotels: Sofitel London Heathrow & Sofitel London Gatwick (under a franchise agreement with Accor), Renaissance London Heathrow (under a franchise agreement with Marriott), Holiday Inn London Heathrow - T5 (under a franchise agreement with IHG), as well as Arora London Heathrow and Arora London Gatwick/Crawley. Additionally the InterContinental London - The O2, currently under construction and due to open in late 2015 will add an additional 453 bedrooms to the portfolio together with a 3,100 square metre pillar free ballroom, one of the largest in Europe. www.arorainternational.com
About the Queensgate Investments LLP
Queensgate Investments LLP is a joint venture between Jason Kow and LJ Group, a multi-family office with circa USD 7.0B assets under advisory from approximately 200 families. Queensgate Investments LLP is the exclusive advisor to, amongst others, Queensgate Investments Fund I, a pan-European opportunistic real estate private equity fund, and its successor, Queensgate Investments Fund II. Queensgate Investments LLP controls circa GBP 900M of assets and has circa GBP 1.5B of buying power. Queensgate Investments LLP differentiates itself by its flexible, nimble and non-institutional capital and its investment strategy includes acquiring asset rich operational companies with predictable income and/or multiple value-creation opportunities. The Queensgate Investments Funds' assets include the InterContinental® London - The O2 and London Executive Offices (formerly Executive Offices Group), the leading 5* serviced office business in central London with 31 high quality serviced offices totalling circa 540,000 square feet clustered in Mayfair, Belgravia, Midtown and the City of London (including but not limited to 33 St James Square, 78-79 Pall Mall, 1 Cornhill, 2 Eaton Gate and 53 Davies Street which are all owned by London Executive Offices). www.queensgateinv.com
About IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group)
IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] is a global organisation with a broad portfolio of nine hotel brands, including InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts, Hotel Indigo®, Crowne Plaza® Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn® Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn Express®, Staybridge Suites®, Candlewood Suites®, EVEN™ Hotels and HUALUXE® Hotels and Resorts. IHG manages IHG® Rewards Club, the world's first and largest hotel loyalty programme with over 82 million members worldwide. The programme was re-launched in July 2013, offering enhanced benefits for members including free internet across all hotels, globally. IHG franchises, leases, manages or owns over 4,700 hotels and 697,000 guest rooms in nearly 100 countries, with almost 1,200 hotels in its development pipeline. InterContinental Hotels Group PLC is the Group's holding company and is incorporated in Great Britain and registered in England and Wales. www.ihg.com
Marriott International, Inc. (NASDAQ: MAR) is a global leading lodging company based in Bethesda,Maryland, USA, with more than 4,200 properties in 80 countries and territories. Marriott International reported revenues of nearly $14 billion in fiscal year 2014. The company operates and franchises hotels and licenses vacation ownership resorts under 19 brands, including: The Ritz-Carlton®, BVlgari®, EDITION®, JW Marriott®, Autograph Collection® Hotels, Renaissance® Hotels, Marriott Hotels®, Delta Hotels and Resorts®, Marriott Executive Apartments®, Marriott Vacation Club®, Gaylord Hotels®, AC Hotels by Marriott®, Courtyard®, Residence Inn®, SpringHill Suites®, Fairfield Inn & Suites®, TownePlace Suites®, Protea Hotels® and MoxyHotels®. Marriott has been consistently recognized as a top employer and for its superior business ethics. The company also manages the award-winning guest loyalty program, Marriott Rewards® and The Ritz-Carlton Rewards® program, which together surpass 50 million members. For more information or reservations, please visit our website at 
