ABU DHABI // Mubadala Development Company, a Government-owned investment group, is aiming to expand its hospitality group's reach globally with the purchase of 50 per cent of a California boutique hotel company. The group announced in May that it had formed a strategic partnership with Kor Hotel Group in Los Angeles to build hotels in Abu Dhabi, but earlier today Mubadala officials said the company had acquired a 50 per cent stake in Kor to fuel the "aggressive global expansion" of the hotel's two main brands, The Tides and Viceroy, in major cities around the world.
"We believe they are poised for tremendous growth globally," said Waleed al Mokarrab al Muhairi, the chief operating officer of Mubadala. The company will mainly focus on expanding in the Middle East, North Africa and Asia under the partnership, including hotels in Abu Dhabi that are earmarked to open in 2012. Mubadala's property and hospitality division has been steadily forming joint ventures with established developers in the last several months. It has already established a residential development company with Singapore-based CapitaLand, called Capitala, and a commercial development company with John Buck from Chicago. bhope@thenational.ae
