International Hotel Investments plc - Strategic Partnership with Intourist

On 26 May 2008, International Hotels Investments plc announced that an agreement has been reached to jointly develop and invest in upscale category hotels across the Russian Federation with OAO VAO Intourist of Russia.

Intourist is the oldest and best-known tourist business in Russia and has established itself as a leading universal operator in the tourist market. Today, Intourist aims to create a fully integrated tourism group by exploiting synergies between its key business areas: tourism, retail chain, hotels and transport.

Intourist forms part of the London-listed Sistema JSFC, one of Russia’s largest private sector consumer services company with investments worldwide, principally in the technology sectors.

IHI and Intourist have agreed to join forces and establish an equally-owned investment fund with an initial capital of US$100,000,000. The fund will invest and develop upscale hotels in major cities across the Russian Federation, including Moscow. Both IHI and Intourist bring significant resources and extensive expertise in the hotel sector to the joint venture, as well as a strong understanding of the Russian hotel development market. The intention of the joint venture is to create Russia’s largest hotel chain, operating hotels under various brands including the Corinthia and Intourist brands.