Portfolio of seven hotels are placed on the market for disposal, these hotels are located in Continental Europe and all operate under the InterContinental brand.

They comprise the InterContinental Amstel Amsterdam, InterContinental Budapest, InterContinental Carlton Cannes, InterContinental De La Ville Rome, InterContinental Frankfurt, InterContinental Madrid and the InterContinental Vienna.

These hotels are all being marketed with an IHG management contract. It is expected that, as with previous portfolio disposals, it will take up to nine months to complete the disposal process. Jones Lang LaSalle and Merrill Lynch are advising IHG on the transaction.

IHG also intends to dispose of a portfolio of owned mid-scale European hotels, which are expected to remain under IHG's brands. The timing and structure of the sale process for this portfolio will be announced in due course.

These two portfolios of hotels have a net book value of approximately £600m, and constitute the final tranche of hotels that IHG had previously announced it would sell. These two portfolios generated revenues of EUR 310m, EBIT of EUR 35m and EBITDA of EUR 67m in 2004.

These disposals are a continuation of IHG's strategy of growing its management and franchise businesses and reducing asset ownership. This strategy has resulted in IHG having disposed of or, including these two portfolios, being in the process of disposing of, 176 hotels with a net asset value of more than £2.8bn. Aggregate proceeds received to date have been above net asset value. IHG has to date announced the return of £2.25bn to shareholders, of which £1.95bn has already been completed. As previously stated, further cash returns will be made to shareholders in due course.

For further details of hotels placed on the market please view our latest press release at www.ihgplc.com/newsid1487