Raffles Holdings was the parent company of Raffles International

Raffles International

Fairmont Raffles Hotels International is a Toronto, Canada based hotel chain owned by Voyager Partners, Kingdom Hotels and Los Angeles based Colony Capital, LLC.The group was formed in January 2006, when Kingdom and Colony entered into a join venture...

. It is owned by Temasek Holdings

Temasek Holdings

Temasek Holdings is an investment company owned by the government of Singapore. With an international staff of 380 people, it manages a portfolio of about S$193 billion at end of March 2011, focused primarily in Asia...

 which is the investment arm of the Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

 government.

In 2005, Raffles Holdings' hotel

Hotel

A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...

 business ranked 17th or 18th in the world in terms of market capitalization and number of rooms, all marketed under the Raffles and Swissôtel

Swissôtel

Swissôtel Hotels and Resorts is a group of hotels pitched at the higher end of the hotel market. The chain currently includes 28 properties in 15 countries....

 brand names.

History

The company was incorporated on August 26, 1995.
On July 18, 2005 Raffles Holdings announced its sale to Colony Capital, LLC for about US$1 billion, including outstanding debt. The deal, worth 1.72 billion Singapore dollars, includes all 41 hotels and resorts. Its most prominent establishment is the luxurious 103-suite Raffles Hotel in Singapore

Raffles Hotel

Raffles Hotel is a colonial-style hotel in Singapore, and one of the world's most famous hotels. The hotel was established by the famous Armenian Sarkies Brothers. Opened in 1887, it was named after Singapore's founder Sir Stamford Raffles. Managed by Fairmont Raffles Hotels International, it is...

, built in 1887.

CapitaLand Ltd.

CapitaLand

CapitaLand Limited is the result of a merger in the year 2000 of then DBS Land and Pidemco Land. It is one of Asia's largest real estate companies. Headquartered and listed in Singapore, the company's core businesses are real estate development, hospitality and real estate financial services...

, Southeast Asia's largest property developer that owned 59.7 percent of Raffles Holdings, would gain the equivalent of US$362 million from the sale and plans to pay shareholders a special dividend of 23 U.S. cents a share. The cash price for the hotels is 1.45 billion Singapore dollars, or US$859 million. The transaction is subject to approval by shareholders.

CapitaLand has said it will vote in favor of the sale. Explaining the reason for the sale, Raffles Chief Executive Jennie Chua said "To grow, the hotel business would need significant investments and potential cash calls and that's something we would not like to do," at a press conference.