The Casa Del Mar Group plans to invest some RM300 million to build four to five new boutique hotels and to buy more land to develop resorts in Malaysia. Casa Del Mar, owned by Syed Yusof and Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, the Selangor state ruler, owns the 34-room Casa Del Mar boutique hotel in Langkawi. The hotel is managed by Singapore's HPL Hotel & Resorts Pte Ltd, which is controlled by Ong Beng Seng, a close associate of Syed Yusof and the Sultan. Casa Del Mar is building its second property, dubbed Casa Del Rio boutique hotel and serviced apartments, in Malacca, for RM85 million. It is due to be ready by September 2009. It also plans to develop 40 hectares at Terengganu's Perhentian Island. The land is owned by the Sultan.
(11-02-2008 New Straits Times)
