Courtyard Saint-Denis Acquired by Algonquin and Very SAS Through a Sale and Management Back with Marriott

By Algonquin, PRNE
Tuesday, December 21, 2010

PARIS, December 22, 2010 - Algonquin SA and Very SAS announce that they have completed the
acquisition of the Courtyard by Marriott Paris Saint-Denis. The hotel was
acquired from an affiliate of Marriott International, Inc. (NYSE: MAR).
Marriott will continue to operate the hotel under a long-term management
agreement.

Following seven acquisitions in the past 18 months, the Courtyard by
Marriott Paris Saint-Denis becomes the 24th hotel in Algonquin's portfolio.

The Courtyard Saint-Denis opened in mid-2009, and was purpose-built to
meet the standards of the new generation 4-star Courtyard brand. The hotel
includes 150 rooms, a restaurant, meeting rooms and a leisure facility. It is
the only branded hotel situated within the district of Pleyel in Saint-Denis,
close to the Stade de France, the future Cite du Cinema and the several
business parks located in this area. The district provides office
accommodation to over 43.000 companies, including leading French and European
Groups, and 560,000 employees working in la Seine Saint-Denis. Marriott will
continue to manage the hotel under the Courtyard brand.

Jean-Philippe Chomette, CEO of Algonquin, commented: "The tightening of
the hotel investment market has created the opportunity to buy quality hotels
in strong locations, poised to fully benefit from the recovery in the hotel
trade we are seeing throughout France and in Paris in particular. Courtyard
Saint-Denis is a good quality hotel in a new and growing market. The asset
will also benefit from already announced major office projects in the
vicinity of the hotel, such as the development of the Cite du Cinema, or the
construction of new office buildings signed up by quality tenants such as
SFR. We would be very pleased to contemplate other similar opportunities with
Marriott across Europe in the future."

Georges-Arnaud Saier, CEO of Very SAS, commented: "VERY is pleased to
announce this additional investment in the hotel business in France,
especially alongside its partner Algonquin. Courtyard Saint-Denis perfectly
fits our criteria of growth and quality and we are hopeful there will be
further opportunities to expand our portfolio across France in the near
future."

MBL Avocats, Etude Cheuvreux and CMS acted for Algonquin and White & Case
and Etude Lebreton acted for Marriott.

About Algonquin

www.algonquin.be

Algonquin started its activity as private hotel equity investor and hotel
operator in 1998. Since its creation, the Group has owned, directly or
through investment pools of which Algonquin was the main shareholder, and
through single asset or hotel portfolio acquisitions, hotels located all over
France representing more than 3,000 rooms in the up-scale and mid-scale
segments (3* and 4*).

Institutional investors and family offices have joined Algonquin in the
creation of joint ventures, managed by Algonquin, dedicated to acquisitions
with clear investment objectives.

IRPR#1

Algonquin France, Frederic de Brem, +33-1-80-27-18 30

YOUR VIEW POINT
NAME : (REQUIRED)
MAIL : (REQUIRED)
will not be displayed
WEBSITE : (OPTIONAL)
YOUR
COMMENT :