IHG will continue to manage the hotels and use $25 million forcapital expenditure on the 13 hotels over the next three years."The remaining $425 million of net disposal proceeds will be usedfor general corporate purposes, including paying down US dollardenominated debt, returning funds to shareholders and investing inthe business," a company statement says.

The hotels, comprising 3,946 rooms, form part of the tranche of20 properties IHG placed on the market in July as part of itsongoing asset disposal program. They include InterContinentalhotels in Toronto, Houston, San Juan and Austin, TX, four CrownePlaza hotels, three Holiday Inn hotels and two Staybridge Suitesproperties.

The hotels will continue to be managed by IHG under a 25-yearmanagement contract with HPT. IHG has two consecutive options toextend the contracts on the properties for 15 years each, giving atotal potential contract length of up to 55 years.