Press: R2G buys five-star Hotel InterContinental Prague for CZK 5bn
The investment group R2G co-founded by Czech billionaire Oldřich Šlemr and the owners of the Avast software company has reportedly bought the luxury Hotel InterContinental in Prague. According to the Czech edition of Forbes magazine, the sale price likely exceeded 5 billion crowns.
“We are delighted that we will have the opportunity to manage and further develop this important Prague property, which is part of the Czech cultural heritage, in the future, as corresponds to its tradition and reputation.”
The five-star Hotel InterContinental, which overlooks the Vltava River and Pařížská Street, was built between 1968 and 1974. It was designed by Czech architect Karel Filsak in the Brutalist style.
From 1992 through 1995, it underwent a major renovation of the façade, which was overseen by architect Roman Koucký. In 2002 the interiors were redone. It currently features 372 rooms and 14 conference rooms.
Among the hundreds of celebrities who have stayed there over the decades are Ray Charles, Elton John, Meryl Streep, Michael Jackson and Luciano Pavarotti, as well as U.S. presidents Richard Nixon and George W Bush, as well as Secretaries of State Madelaine Albright and Hillary Rodham Clinton.
According to R2G, the transaction is the largest ever in the hotel services market in central Europe. The current owner is the Slovak Best Hotel Properties (BHP) group, which includes the Czech-Slovak investment group J & T and the American company Westmont.
R2G was launched in 2016 after Šlemr launched and his business partner sold the CGS Holding tyre group to Sweden’s Trelleborg for 31 billion crowns. It also manages the family money of Eduard Kučera and Pavel Baudiš, the founders of Czech security software group Avast, which in 2016 took over rival company AVG and this year launched shares on the London stock exchange.
This May, R2G made a record acquisition for a Czech investor in the United States, buying First Quality Nonwovens from the group First Quality Enterprises, which has factories in the US and China and supplies fabrics for hygiene products, for an estimated 11 billion crowns.
The group invests primarily in the region of CEE and SEE, with a focus on Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia and Romania.
