City Developments Ltd Expands London Hospitality Portfolio with Major Acquisition
In a significant move to strengthen its presence in one of the world’s most prestigious real estate markets, City Developments Ltd (CDL), controlled by Singaporean billionaire Kwek Leng Beng and his family, has acquired the Holiday Inn London in Kensington High Street for £280 million ($370 million). This strategic purchase, completed through CDL’s wholly-owned subsidiary Copthorne Hotel Holdings, represents a price of approximately £396,600 per room for the 706-room hotel. The property sits on a generous 6,356 square meter freehold site in one of London’s most affluent neighborhoods, offering what the company describes as “long-term development potential” in an area where such opportunities are increasingly rare.
The acquisition significantly bolsters CDL’s London portfolio, giving the Singapore-based developer ownership of two of the largest freehold sites in the prestigious Kensington and Chelsea districts. This latest addition means CDL now operates over 3,000 rooms across six hospitality assets in Central London, including the 833-room Copthorne Tara Hotel and the 611-key Millennium Gloucester Hotel. What makes this purchase particularly strategic is that the Holiday Inn property is directly adjacent to CDL’s existing Copthorne Tara hotel, creating potential synergies and development opportunities that could enhance the value of both properties. As Kwek himself noted in the company’s statement, “This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to secure an ultra-prime freehold site in Central London. Freehold sites in this location are exceptionally scarce, and it is even rarer to find one directly adjacent to our Copthorne Tara hotel.”
The newly acquired Holiday Inn enjoys an enviable location in a tranquil pocket of Kensington, just a two-minute walk from the bustling Kensington High Street, an area renowned for its upscale shopping, dining, and cultural attractions. The hotel has demonstrated impressive operational performance, maintaining an occupancy rate exceeding 97% in the nine months leading up to September 2025. Financial performance has been equally strong, with the property generating total revenue of more than £39 million over the past twelve months. CDL projects that the hotel will deliver a running yield of over 6%, making it not just a strategic long-term asset but also an immediately accretive addition to the company’s portfolio. This combination of prime location, strong operational performance, and attractive yield prospects exemplifies CDL’s approach to hospitality investment.
This latest acquisition comes as part of a broader capital recycling strategy for CDL, which has been actively reshaping its global portfolio. The company has raised an impressive S$1.9 billion (approximately US$1.4 billion) from various asset divestments throughout the year, significantly strengthening its capital position. This approach of strategic divestments paired with calculated acquisitions allows CDL to optimize its portfolio, focusing resources on properties with the strongest growth potential while maintaining a healthy balance sheet. The Holiday Inn purchase demonstrates how CDL is redeploying its capital into premium assets in key gateway cities, focusing on properties with both immediate returns and long-term appreciation potential.
The Kwek family, controlling CDL through their broader Hong Leong Group interests, ranks among Singapore’s wealthiest business dynasties with a combined net worth estimated at $14.3 billion according to the latest list of Singapore’s 50 richest published in September. Their wealth stems from decades of strategic investment across multiple sectors, though real estate has always formed the cornerstone of their business empire. Kwek Leng Beng serves as executive chairman of not only CDL but also Singapore’s Hong Leong Group, which was founded by his father in 1941. The family’s business acumen has allowed them to build a diversified portfolio of assets across Asia, Europe, and North America, with luxury hospitality properties in prime urban locations forming a significant component of their holdings.
The acquisition highlights the continued attractiveness of premium London real estate to international investors despite economic uncertainties, and underscores the Kwek family’s long-term confidence in the resilience of the UK hospitality sector. It’s worth noting that the Kwek family’s business interests remain separate from those of Kwek Leng Beng’s cousin, Quek Leng Chan, who operates his own Hong Leong Group in Malaysia and is a billionaire in his own right. This clear delineation of business interests, even within the extended family, has allowed both branches to pursue distinct investment strategies while maintaining the Hong Leong name. As global tourism continues its post-pandemic recovery and London maintains its position as a premier global destination, CDL’s expanded footprint in the city’s luxury hospitality market positions the company to capture growing demand while building long-term value for its shareholders.
