Vice-premier George Copos and a group of Romanian businessmen, have bought the controlling interests in the company that owns the Athenee Palace Hilton Hotel in Bucharest from its French owners in a complex deal worth 25-30 million dollars (19-23m euros), hotel market sources told Ziarul Financiar.
The talks were held in Paris and the deal was signed at the end of last week.
The final price of the transaction will be set using a series of parameters and will become known over the next two months. The deal includes the taking over of 10 million dollars in debt.
The hotel is owned by Athenee Phenix Group, which has Romanian and French companies as shareholders.
According to the Trade Registry, the owners of Athenee Phenix Group are Athenee Palace SA, a 42% state-owned company, with 36%, CMC International Impex SA, a company controlled by businessman Mihai Carciog, one of the founders of the Evenimentul Zilei newspaper, with 12%, Harpcorp Romania SA, 4.4%, Compagnie ImmobiliÃ?re Phenix, 27.7%, and Anjou Services and Etudes Generales Construction Internationales, 20.3%.
Through his group, Copos submitted a bid to the Ministry of Transport and Tourism last year to buy the state''s shares in Athenee Palace SA. The selection of the consortium led by Copos, which also included Tehnofrig, caused a media scandal. Sources say Copos no longer has any interest in the state''s shares considering he has already acquired control. The Hilton Hotel is a five star hotel and Athenee Phenix Group has invested some 42 million dollars in renovating the old Athenee Palace hotel, which is a symbol of the city of Bucharest between the two world wars and one of the best-known hotels in Romania. A part of the money required for the renovation and modernisation of the hotel came from two loans - 14.3m euros from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and $16.9m from a consortium of French banks. The Hilton''s turnover exceeded $22m (17.7m euros) last year, up nearly 25%. Room occupancy overshoot 70% and net profits increased by more than 30% to approximately $4.5m.
George Copos, who has a fortune estimated at 300m euros, is one of the largest investors in hotels and tourism in Romania.
He controls the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Bucharest, the Europa Complex in Eforie Sud and three hotels in Poiana Brasov. He also owns 0.9% in mobile telephony operator Connex, which is worth around $30m. Connex was recently acquired by the world''s largest mobile telephony company, Vodafone, and has been valued at nearly 3 billion dollars. Copos is best known as the owner of Rapid Football Club and as a businessman, while his political career has received less of the spotlight.
He joined the Romanian Humanist Party last summer and then entered the Government after the elections of last autumn, being appointed vice-premier. In his five months in government in charge of the business environment, Copos has made more headlines through football-related statements and the Hilton deal than through government matters. cristian.hostiuc@zf.ro
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