Luxury Paris hotel finds buyer

PARIS // The luxury Hotel de Crillon in Paris has been sold by the US investment firm Starwood Capital Group for an undisclosed amount to a buyer from Saudi Arabia.

The hotel's current management will run it on behalf of the new owner for between six months and a year, Starwood said on Thursday.

The new owner will seek to continue the development of the hotel, though the specific strategy will be announced later, the company said.

Starwood acquired the hotel, which reportedly is in need of an overhaul, when it took over the Taittinger empire in 2005.

It had sought to sell the Crillon to JJW Hotels and Resorts, owned by the Saudi Sheikh Mohammed bin Issa Al Jaber, but the deal ended in a legal battle as JJW withdrew from an agreement to buy, Agence France-Presse reported.

The Crillon was built in 1758 and 20 years later was the setting for a key treaty between the US and France. The identity of the new buyer has not been disclosed, although Groupe du Louvre, the Starwood subsidiary that runs the Crillon, said it was an "eminent member of the Saudi Royal Family".

The hotel, which has 147 rooms and employs 360 staff, is likely to be run by the Swiss hotel group Kempinski after the handover period, BBC news reported. Almost all the luxury hotels in Paris have been bought by foreign groups.

The George V is owned by the Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, and the Egyptian businessman Mohamed al Fayed has the Ritz.

* with agencies