Top Paris hotel sold to Saudi for $354 mln. Saudi royalty buys Paris' Crillon hotel

The Hôtel de Crillon in Paris is one of the oldest luxury hotels in the world

PARIS (Agencies)
U.S. investment group Starwood Capital is about to sell the Hotel de Crillon in Paris, one of the world's landmark hotels, to Saudi investors with ties to the royal family for around $354 million (250 million euros ), French daily Le Figaro said on Friday.

The Figaro daily said that U.S.-based Starwood Capital was in the final stages of the sale which excludes a 100-million-euro program to renovate one of the world's oldest luxury hotels.

The Kempinski Hotels group is to manage the Crillon, the paper said, built in the 18th century on what would become the Place de la Concorde. The hotel is next to the United States embassy.

Starwood Capital and the Crillon declined to comment on the deal.

The deal comes following a months-long legal battle between Starwood Capital and previous potential buyer JJW Hotels and Resorts, owned by Saudi Sheikh Mohammed al-Jaber.

Starwood Capital bought the hotel from the former Taittinger group in 2005.

The venue was built in 1758 as a government building after being commissioned by King Louis XV.

http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2010/11/05/124979.html