Orient-Express Hotels to buy Thai hotel for $25m

Orient-Express Hotels is to purchase a 100% interest in a luxury hotel and villa complex in Thailand's Koh Samui.

Napasai will be bought for $25m (£13.3m) and includes a 55-room hotel, 8 adjacent villas and 40 acres of land.

The hotel itself is worth $13m (£7m) and 20 acres of the site are suitable for further development.

It was developed by Pansea and has been managed under the Pansea Orient-Express brand since its opening in February 2004.

Simon Sherwood, president of Orient-Express, said: "The purchase of Napasai marks the first formal stop in our agreed acquisition of the six property Pansea group of hotels. Koh Samui's proximity to the hub of Bangkok and its tranquil setting in the gulf of Siam mean it is increasingly attracting the upper end travellers who used to go to Phuket."

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By Alix Young

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