BLand in Japan venture with RM976m Four Seasons Hotel Kyoto opening in 2015

KYOTO: Berjaya Land Bhd's (BLand) maiden hotel development in Japan, the Four Seasons Hotel Kyoto, will be developed at a gross development cost of US$320mil (RM976mil) and is set for its official opening in early 2015. The hotel, which will be the city's fourth global hotel brand after Hyatt Regency, Westin and the soon-to-be-ready Ritz-Carlton, is slated to start construction by March next year.

A signing ceremony was held here yesterday between Berjaya Kyoto Development Kabushiki Kaisha (a wholly owned subsidiary of BLand, which in turn is a subsidiary of Berjaya Corp Bhd) and Four Seasons Hotel and Resorts to mark the collaboration. “It has not been an easy journey but through the sheer hard work and commitment of all stakeholders of this project ... we finally reached this significant milestone,” said Berjaya Corp founder Tan Sri Vincent Tan.

Deal sealed: (from left) Malaysian ambassador Datuk Shaharuddin Mohd Som, Tan, Leong, Kadokawa, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts executive vicepresident for global developments Scott Woroch, vice-president for Asia-Pacific developments Christopher Wong and RHB Bank chairman Tan Sri Azlan Zainol at the signing ceremony.

Tan said the group was expecting a “reasonable” returns of between 5% and 10% for the project. “We believe the returns would come pretty fast, given that Kyoto receives more than 50 million visitors a year,” he said.

Tan also said the development marked the beginning of more investments from the Berjaya group into Japan. He said the group had some 100 acres of land in Okinawa where it was working on development plans, also with Four Seasons. Additionally, there would be a residential component to this Okinawa project, given that the group owned a big land there, said Tan, without elaborating.

Meanwhile, the Four Seasons Hotel Kyoto, which will be BLand's signature and flagship development in Japan, would sit on a 5-acre site in the historical core of Higashiyama-ku amid the heritage sites of Kyoto. The luxury hotel will consist of 186 keys and will be built with a combination of modern and traditional Japanese design.

Kyoto city mayor Daisaku Kadokawa, who was also present at the signing ceremony, said: “Kyoto is a very attractive city but there is a lack of accommodation to host guests from overseas; we want to attract world-class hotels.” The Four Seasons Hotel Kyoto was part of the city's tourist-promotion policies, he said. “In 2007, we introduced strict policies to protect our city's landscapes to preserve their beauty. Berjaya and Four Seasons have promised to protect these,” added Kadokawa.

Earlier at a briefing for Malaysian journalists, BLand executive director Leong Wy Joon said the Four Seasons Hotel Kyoto project would be funded by equity, internal funds as well as bank borrowings, although the exact funding structure had yet to be determined.

The project came on the heels of Kyoto city's plans to push for more foreign visitors, he said, adding that of the current 50 million visitors, only about one million were foreigners.

The Four Seasons Hotel Kyoto is the group's third major project in North Asia after the Integrated Resort Development in Jeju, South Korea, and the Great Mall of China project in Beijing, China. RHB Bank Bhd is the principal financier for the project.
-thestar online.