A MALAYSIAN property firm is investing P750 million to build a business class hotel in Makati, bullish on the financial district’s tourism potential.

IGB Corp., a publicly listed real estate firm in the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange which operates many hotels in Asia, has formed a subsidiary, St. Giles Hotel Manila, to handle the project.

St. Giles President Chua Seng Yong said the 29-storey hotel will be IGB Corp.’s first venture in the Philippines.

"The reason for this investment is actually very simple — we saw the growth potential of the hotel industry in the Philippines especially in the Makati district," he said.

The new hotel, to be called St. Giles Hotel Makati, which will be on the corner of Makati and Kalayaan avenues, will be managed by Cititel Hotel Management, the hotel management arm of IGB Corp.

Mr. Chua said the occupancy rates within the vicinity have been high. He declined to identify which hotels are being eyed as competitors.

Occupying an 827-square-meter lot, the hotel will have 415 rooms catering to corporate travelers. It will also have conference and function rooms and amenities such as restaurants and a pool.

Construction of the hotel will start in January and will be finished by December 2009.

Should St. Giles Hotel Manila become successful, the company could expand its operations. "At the moment, we’re looking at Bangkok and Vietnam as the next countries to expand our hotel business into," Mr. Chua said.

In Asia, the group owns the Renaissance and Boulevard hotels in Kuala Lumpur, the New World Saigon in Vietnam, and the Pangkor Island Beach Resort, Cititel Hotels, and the MiCasa hotel apartments in Malaysia.

In Europe, IGB has two hotels under the St. Giles brand, namely the St. Giles London and St. Giles Heathrow, two of the United Kingdom’s largest three-star hotels.

Apart from hotel development, IGB is also into building town-ships, condominiums, commercial buildings, hospitals and retail complexes.

[Business World Online]