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TUI sells RUI hotel stake
TUI is strengthening its long-standing partnership with RUI as it transitions away from property ownership to more hotel management
As part of this focus, the Riu family is taking over TUI’s minority share in a previously jointly held real estate portfolio of 19 existing properties and two properties in development.
The long-standing strategic hotel partnership between RUI and TUI continues to be the 50:50 joint venture with 100 hotels and resorts worldwide.
This JV will continue to manage and distribute all RIU hotels and resorts worldwide – including the 21 properties that will be fully owned by the Riu family in the future.
That leaves TUI to focus on core business with holiday experiences – and in particular the development, operation and marketing of hotel and holiday brands, it says.
The Group is growing its international hotel brands TUI Blue, RIU, Robinson, TUI Magic Life and the management of these hotels, but will tie up less capital in land and its own real estate in the future.
The aim of this business unit restructuring is to decouple growth in hotels and cruise ships from investments.
The inclusion of Hapag-Lloyd Cruises in the TUI joint venture TUI Cruises, which was already agreed in spring 2020, was a first successful step towards implementing this strategy.
The Supervisory Board of TUI AG has approved the stake sale for the portfolio of 19 existing properties and two in development.
The proceeds of more than 670 million euros will be used to reduce the Group’s debt.
Peter Krueger, as Chief Strategy and M&A Officer responsible for TUI Group’s hotel investments, explains, "We are separating hotel management and the holiday experience from property ownership, in line with our strategy announced in 2019 pre-crisis, a business model that has proven successful in the international city hotel sector."
With the acquisition of our share in the 21 real estate properties by the Riu family, we will release capital employed, while we are strengthening our core business by focusing on global hotel management with continuing our successful RIU operating joint venture."
In total, the hotel company jointly owned by TUI and the Riu family will continue to operate 100 hotels and resorts worldwide in 19 countries.
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