This webpage contains affiliate links. We may earn commissions for purchases made through affiliate links in this webpage. For more information, please read our Affiliate Disclaimer Policy.
Our Heritage
Millennium & Copthorne Hotels (M&C) was founded in 1989, on the vision of its Chairman, Mr Kwek Leng Beng, who leads Singapore’s Hong Leong Group and Singapore-listed global real estate company City Developments (CDL). 1989 Formed as a Hong Leong subsidiary, CDL Hotels International acquires its first 6 Asian hotels.
1993 The company buys the 548-room Millennium Gloucester Hotel London Kensington and takes control of a 13-hotel chain in New Zealand.
1994 CDL enters the US market, acquiring the Millennium Hilton and the Millennium Broadway Hotel New York.
1995 CDL acquires Copthorne Hotels from Aer Lingus for £219 million, and launches its new global hotel brand, Millennium Hotels And Resorts. Around this time, the Group becomes New Zealand's largest hotel owner, with 21 hotels, and acquires a controlling stake in the Plaza Hotel in New York (the stake was sold in a landmark transaction in 2004).
Millennium & Copthorne Hotels plc (M&C) floats on the London Stock Exchange. During the same year, it acquires the Millennium Hotel London Mayfair from InterContinental, as well as hotels in France and Germany.
Having made further hotel acquisitions in New Zealand and Asia, CDL's Asian and Australasian hotels are acquired by M&C, transforming it into a global hotel owner/operator. In the same year, M&C acquires the 5-star Seoul Hilton and the Regal hotel chain in the US.
2010 The group successfully launches its new brand, Studio M, in Singapore. The hotel becomes EBITDA-positive within three months of launch, which is unusual for a new hotel. In the same year, the Group strengthens its commitment to China, acquiring a 70% majority stake in the award-winning Grand Millennium Beijing.
2017 The Group completes two significant asset management transactions - selling and leasing back Studio M to CDLHT and selling a parcel of land adjacent to the Grand Millennium Hotel Kuala Lumpur. It closes the Copthorne Orchid Hotel in Singapore, to develop the site into condominiums, further demonstrating the flexibility of its owner/operator strategy. In the same year, M&C acquires a land site in Tokyo's prestigious Ginza district and announces it will build its first ever hotel in the Japanese capital.