Radisson Hospitality in the Dark Over HNA’s Plans

Radisson Hospitality, the company formerly known as Rezidor Hotel Group, is unaware of any plans that debt-laden conglomerate HNA Group might have to sell its stake in the company.

In June, Bloomberg reported that HNA was exploring a sale of Radisson Hotel Group, what was once Carlson Rezidor, which owns a controlling stake in Radisson Hospitality.

It wouldn’t be a surprise if HNA offloaded its investment, especially as it is selling off other hotel assets, but so far it has made no formal announcement.

“I mean, as we have said, they have not communicated anything to the company. If not, obviously, we would have reported, and they have not communicated anything officially,” said CEO Federico González on a conference call with investors after the release of the company’s second-quarter results.

“We keep very focused on delivering with the teams, delivering the growth we need to deliver and executing our plan, that has got the agreement of and the support of all the shareholders and of all the investors. So we try to make sure that managing the business doesn’t get any kind of interference or effect of whatever any shareholder does with their shares.” he added.

HNA’s deal to buy Carlson Hotels in 2016 included a stake in Rezidor and it currently owns 51.2 percent of the company.

First-Half results

Revenue at Radisson Hospitality in the second quarter fell 0.2 percent to $297 million (€253.7 million) on the back of the exit of eight leases at the end of last year. However, profit before interest and taxes increased 330 percent to $31.7 million (€27.1 million), thanks to like-for-like revenue growth and the reduction in operating costs in leased hotels.

As well as serving as CEO of Radisson Hospitality, González is also chairman of the global steering committee at Radisson Hotel Group. John Kidd is CEO of Radisson Hospitality Inc (formerly Carlson Hotels).