Wall St Journal - ANA To sell Vienna Hotel To Saudi Group- Nikkei

23rd August 2002

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES VIENNA (Nikkei)--All Nippon Airways Co.

ANA will sell its ANA Grand Hotel Wien to the JJW group of Saudi Arabia for an estimated 80€ million, The Nihon Keizai Shimbun learned Tuesday, the newspaper reported in its Wednesday morning edition.

The two sides are expected to make the deal official on Wednesday.

The vienna-based hotel, which opened before World War II, is one of the city's most prestigious hotels. The Japanese airline bought the hotel, which had been used as an office building after the war, and reopened it in 1994.

Japanese tourists and business people stay at the hotel when they visit central and east European countries.

ANA announced in may plans to withdraw from overseas hotel operations due to deterioting profitability in the wake of sept 11 terrorist attack.

The JJW which rounds hotels mainly in Europe is expected to change the name to Grand Hotel before taking over operations next month.