NEW YORK, NY | Millennium & Copthorne (M&C) Hotels plc is developing a new five-star hotel in the heart of Bangkok, the Millennium Sukhumvit Bangkok, scheduled for opening in late 2007. The hotel will join M&C Hotel’s global portfolio of hotels including the historic Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, the Millennium Knickerbocker Hotel in Chicago and the Millennium Broadway Hotel in New York.

The Millennium Sukhumvit Bangkok will feature a sail-like glass facade, atrium and concept floors. The 326-room hotel will comprise of 251 deluxe rooms, 68 club rooms including many with garden view rooms, and seven suites. The guest rooms will be spacious, each measuring more than 430 square feet. The hotel offers 17,000 square feet of meeting and banquet facilities and its premier ballroom will have the capacity to host approximately 500 people theatre-style or 300 people banquet style. The hotel will also have three restaurants that will offer international and regional cuisine.

The Millennium Sukhumvit Bangkok will be managed by M&C Hotels and is owned by Thailand-based Fena Estate Company Limited. A joint-venture between Srichawala Family (FICO Group) and City Hotels Pte Ltd (a wholly-owned subsidiary of M&C Hotels plc), each company will own a 50% interest in the joint-venture. This Thai hotel project is part of M&C Hotels’ strategy to raise more Millennium flags in the Asia-Pacific region.

“M&C Hotels’ growth in the first quarter of 2005 reflects steady growth progress. As the Group continues to seek ways to expand our business, we are excited to establish the M&C name in one Asia’s most popular destinations,” said Mr. Kwek Leng Beng, executive chairman of the Hong Leong Group Singapore and chairman of M&C Hotels plc. “M&C Hotels’ has a commitment to use its expertise in hotel management to bring new five-star service standards to Bangkok with the Millennium Sukhumvit Bangkok,” Mr. Kwek added.

The Millennium Sukhumvit Bangkok is the eighth management contract signed by M&C Hotels. Other hotels signed by the Group include: a luxury hotel and residential project in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt; a 200-bedroom four-star, Millennium Hotel in Southampton, England; and the Copthorne Hotel Reading, an 83-bedroom property in Reading, England.

The London-listed M&C Hotels plc, a 53% subsidiary of City Developments Limited and part of the Hong Leong Group Singapore, operates in major gateway cities in 17 countries with a portfolio of more than 88 hotels excluding management contracts signed this year. It is one of the world’s largest hotel chains and is Singapore’s largest international hotel group. Millennium Hotels and Resorts, which owns or operates over 19 hotels in the United States is the North American arm of London-listed M&C Hotels plc.