London-listed global hotels group Millennium & Copthorne (M&C) expects an early announcement on its US$725 million deal to buy the North American assets of Regal Hotels International. M&C insisted yesterday it was still in exclusive talks with Regal, contrary to a statement by the Hong Kong company this week, but M&C conceded there were still outstanding issues. Regal said on Monday it had missed a September 30 deadline to sign a definitive sales agreement with M&C, 52 per cent owned by Hong Kong's CDL Hotels International, but would continue discussions on a non-exclusive basis. 'We will be saying something in the near future,' M&C chief executive John Wilson said. The issues snagging the deal were bound by commercial confidentiality, Mr Wilson said, but he indicated that they did not represent insurmountable problems. 'It is too soon to be talking about walking away,' he said. 'The discussions are still continuing, and, as you would expect, those discussions are very confidential, between both parties.' The deal, which aims to give M&C control of 29 hotels in North America, comes soon after the group struck a GBP556 million (about HK$7.14 billion) purchase of all of CDL's Southeast Asian and Australasian assets. Mr Wilson said the group might have been a little ambitious in trying to close the North American deal so quickly. 'It was by any definition a pretty tight schedule.' He said the group would now concentrate on infill acquisitions to complete its portfolio. In particular, it was looking at opportunities in Bangkok. DEALS
