DLA Piper advised Althoff Beratungs- und Betreuungsgesellschaft mbH on a joint venture between Althoff Hotels with Keystone Lodging Holdings Limited. The purpose of the joint venture is the establishment of a system under which Keystone Lodging Holdings Limited is entitled to establish and operate hotels under the brand "Ameron" via sub-franchisees in the countries Bhutan, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Macao, der Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
Althoff Hotels are a German hotel chain to which the trademarks Althoff and Ameron in Germany, Switzerland, France and England belong. Althoff Hotel Collection is an exclusive collection of individual 5-star hotels currently comprising of seven luxury hotels being under the management of the founder Mr. Thomas H. Althoff. These include inter alia the Grand Hotel Schloss Bensberg, near Cologne, Dome Hotel in Cologne, Hotel Fürstenhof in Celle, Hotel am Schlossgarten in Stuttgart and Seehotel Überfahrt in Rottach-Egern, Tegernsee. Althoff Hotels also include the Ameron hotels which have been established in the year 2008. Currently there are seven Ameron hotels located in Germany and Switzerland.
Keystone Lodging Holdings Limited is the sole shareholder of the Plateno Group operating more than 3,000 hotels under different brands in the Asian region. With a gross turnover of € 1.6 billion the company is one of China's major hospitality businesses.
The DLA Piper team was led by Partner Florian Hirschmann (Co-Head DLA Piper China Desk Germany) and included Senior Associate Silvio McMiken, Associate Lu Zhang, Transaction Lawyer Siling Zhong (all Corporate, Munich), Counsel Dr Bjoern Enders and Dr Raimund Behnes (both Tax Frankfurt), Partner Dr Burkhard Fuehrmeyer, Senior Associates Dr Fabian Klein and Nicolas M. Dumont (all IP/T, Frankfurt), Partner Dr Ludger Giesberts (Litigation & Regulatory, Cologne), Partner Dr Kai Tumbraegel and Senior Associate Dr Stephanie Rohlfing (both IP/T, Cologne), Partner Dr Thilo von Bodungen and Counsel Silke Goschler (both Commercial, Munich), Partner Edward Chatterton, Senior Associate Elizabeth Wong (both IP/T, Hong Kong), Partner Anderson Lam, Of Counsel Todd Wang and Associates Vivian Tam (all Tax, Hong Kong), Wundy Lee and Samantha Mak (both Corporate, Hong Kong), Partner Horace Lam and Associate Miya Wen (both IP/T, Beijing), Partner Dr Chanvitaya Suvarnapunya, Senior Associate Pattama Jarupunphol and Associate Norachai Saravuddhikul (all Corporate, Bangkok).
In addition, teams from Bhutan, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Macao, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam advised on this matter.
