Seibu Mulls Selling Prince Hotels, Other Assets

Seibu Holdings Inc. is considering selling about 30 properties in Japan, including Prince brand hotels, to Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC for about 150 billion yen ($1.3 billion), sources familiar with the plan told Kyodo News.

Photo Insert: Prince Hotel, Shinagawa

Of the total, about a dozen are believed to be hotels such as The Prince Park Tower Tokyo, Prince Hotel Sapporo, and Grand Prince Hotel Hiroshima, as the COVID-19 pandemic affected the company's main railway and hotel businesses.

A Seibu group company will operate the hotels and other facilities, such as a ski resort and a golf course, after the planned sale, according to the sources. Initially, Seibu Holdings had studied the sale of around 40 assets as part of efforts to improve business efficiency and bolster the fiscal base, they said.

The Tokyo-based company said nothing has been decided at this point. The company has Seibu Railway based in northwestern Tokyo and western Saitama Prefecture, as well as Prince Hotels, one of the largest hotel chain operators in Japan, as core subsidiaries.

Seibu Holdings expects to post a net loss of 14 billion yen in the year to March for the second straight year of red ink due to the impact of the pandemic.

In its midterm business plan, the company has decided to sell Seibu Construction Co., a subsidiary based in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture, to Mirait Holdings Corp. for about 38 billion yen.

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