Peninsula Hotels suspends $130m Yangon project for a year

Hong Kong company and Myanmar partner SPA 'committed' to resuming construction

The Peninsula Yangon involves the redevelopment, seen here in 2018, of the former colonial-style downtown headquarters of Myanmar Railway Co. (Photo by Takaki Kashiwabara)

KENJI KAWASE, Nikkei Asia chief business news correspondent

May 21, 2021 19:46 JST

HONG KONG -- Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, operator of the upmarket Peninsula chain, said Friday that it will suspend construction on its planned $130 million Yangon property for a year.

"Due to the unfortunate situation in Myanmar, we have agreed with our partners to temporarily suspend construction at The Peninsula Yangon for 12 months," Clement Kwok, chief executive of the Hong Kong-listed hotel operator, told shareholders gathered for their annual meeting on Friday. "We will continue to monitor the situation in Myanmar and sincerely hope to resume our project as soon as the situation stabilizes."