During the Chairman’s End of Year dinner, Simon Naudi, IHI CEO and Managing Director, delivered a captivating presentation titled “Where Do We Go From Here?” His remarkable ability to distil complex information and enhance his speech with a storytelling style was engaging, leading me to share snippets with the readers of Insider Plus.
Simon Naudi
Some of you may be familiar with a fair amount of the content, while others may not be. However, I believe everyone will benefit from a clear, concise exposé of the Corinthia adventure’s past, present, and future.
Though Simon opened his presentation with the question, “Where do we go from here?” he was prompt to add that before attempting to answer that question, he wanted to set the scene, particularly for younger colleagues and especially the international guests present. “I want you to understand the context that shapes Corinthia,” he emphasised.
Wartime Malta
He took the audience back to post-war Malta—when there was little to speak of in economic terms beyond military spending. Malta had no natural resources, no modern industry, and no tourism. Illiteracy was widespread, and university graduates were an exception.
Rampant emigration
At that time, Malta’s population was under 300,000, with over 150,000 having migrated to other parts of the Commonwealth in search of work during the post-war period. Salaries and general living standards on the Island lagged far behind those in mainland Europe. This was the scenario when Malta obtained its independence in 1964, with little money, no oil, and no natural resources.
Simon revisited an expression he often shared with his colleagues: “A game of poker is played with the hand you are dealt, not with wishful thinking. Life is played in this spirit.” I found this a compelling perspective on the nature of freedom and success. No one is entirely free to act as they wish; we are all constrained by the circumstances surrounding us and countless limiting factors. Consequently, success hinges on our skill in manoeuvring through these limitations. Though luck may play a role in your success—perhaps you are dealt the best cards—you must still play them thoughtfully and at the right moment to maximise your advantage.
Early photo of Corinthia Palace
In that most unlikely context, the Chairman, Alfred Pisani, and his family started Corinthia in 1962.
“And from that unlikely start, in a most unlikely location, with no capital, no readily trained staff, to the extent that our first hotel was almost entirely managed by foreign labour, we now inherit a legacy which gives us the responsibility to work just as hard, to offer our talents just as much as many did before us, and to carry forward the Corinthia Spirit for the next years.”
Simon then moved to the launch of IHI in March 2000, encompassing the Corinthia name and all that comes with it. Its capital then was 40 million Malta liri or the equivalent of 100 million Euro. CPHCL subscribed to its capital by contributing the Corinthia St George’s Hotel St Julian’s and the vacant building it had acquired a few years prior, which was eventually recreated as the Corinthia in Budapest.
Some 3,000 Maltese individual shareholders subscribed the rest of its capital through the Malta Stock Exchange. Since then, its capital has grown to over 600 million euros, having acquired more assets and welcomed Istithmar from Dubai as a shareholder.
Its present valuation is well over two billion euros, a combination of property values and the value of its operating companies such as CHL and QP.
IHI is the holding company for the Corinthia Brand and other related businesses. It takes an engaged leadership role in asset management, group financing, internal governance, and business development. Its main mission is to own, develop, and operate Corinthia hotels and commercial and residential real estate globally.
IHI is therefore a responsible custodian of the Corinthia brand and all it stands for. This brand is associated primarily with luxury hotels and will become more associated as Corinthia plants its flag in several more operations worldwide.
“Inside our Group, we are also responsible for running and expanding our management activity, that is, running hotels we own or hotels owned by others.” This responsibility belongs to CHL, the management company whose mission remains to manage the hotels to their fullest potential in service and growth.
CHL employs some 80 persons working mostly from its main offices in Malta and London, and others in sales positions across Europe and the USA.
This year, Corinthia also launched a new brand – the Verdi. “You will see more and more of this brand as we focus the Corinthia name solely on high-end luxury and gradually rename our upscale and four-star hotels to the Verdi. This brand has caught on well. The ultimate test will now be to grow this Brand bigger and beyond what we have done even with Corinthia.”
Simon then zoomed on QP. “Inside IHI is also QP, a project management and design services company, originally born out of an in-house need for these services. It has now blossomed very significantly with over 120 colleagues. Most of QP’s income is derived from clients who are not Corinthia.”
QP is now embarking on a forceful international expansion, providing project management and design services across Europe, the Mediterranean and the Gulf.
Two examples: In Dubai, QP providing project management and design services on a 100-storey landmark tower being built on the Emirate’s main boulevard. In Doha, QP is supporting the hotel partner UDC in the master planning of Pearl II, an enormous land reclamation project that will feature thousands of residences, three hotels, malls, schools, community amenities, and marinas. This new city is one-half times the size of Pearl I, where a Corinthia Hotel is soon nearing completion.
At this point, Simon focused on the company established initially as Corinthia Developments International (CDI), which will soon be renamed and rebranded as Corinthia Real Estate Ventures. Its mission is to identify and initiate hotel and commercial real estate projects worldwide, attract investors to finance them, and ensure their successful completion.
“This is not dissimilar to what we have been doing with our capital for decades but is now professionally organised to invite partners to support this avenue for growth. Over recent months, we have made important strides forward in signing on new projects in fantastic locations in the Americas and attracting significant capital from new partners, including the Action Group of Kuwait, which has agreed to act as an investor in C-Rev’s projects..”
Finally, the spotlight was concentrated on the specialist catering business in IHI. Catering was the mainstay of the Group’s business in the 1970s and 1980s. Today, this part of the company is being revamped with new management. The business includes event, airline, industrial catering, and the Costa Coffee franchise for Malta. “In 2025, we hope to regain an international presence, and preliminary contracts have been signed to move into the industrial sector in neighbouring countries.”
In addition to running, designing, or developing hotels, IHI also owns hotels as an investor.
The Corinthia Palace will always remain Corinthia’s flagship and home. “We will continue to invest in this hotel, as we have done in recent years.”
Corinthia Palace
At the Peninsula (St Julians), Corinthia own three hotels in a rapidly changing immediate neighbourhood. “This means we are taking decisions in the near future as to the overall direction of our assets here.”
The Golden Sands in the northern, untouched part of Malta is arguably the best-located hotel in Malta. “We are well underway to buying back the timeshare encumbrance, and once done, in 2025, we will decide on the next steps, including a change of brand and positioning for this hotel, considering we will have over 300 rooms to sell all year round.”
Prague Towers has become a hugely successful investment since the Group acquired it in 1998. “The Board had decided some time ago that it is time to crystallise the returns on this investment. We are marking time awaiting the right international conditions for us to realise this financial gain in the property’s valuation.”
Corinthia Budapest, the historic Grand Hotel Royal, is the Company’s flagship in central Europe. Corinthia is reviewing a refurbishment programme to ensure the hotel remains relevant and competitive at the top end.
Corinthia St Petersburg and the Nevskij Plaza Commercial Centre form another spectacular collection of five buildings, three on the city’s main UNESCO-protected boulevard and featuring the Corinthia hotel, a commercial centre and a convention centre. “We look forward to improving circumstances in Russia, although I must share that 2024 was a record year for financial performance when measured in local currency.”
Corinthia Lisbon is a remarkable success story of transformation from Cinderella to a princess. “We acquired the property in 2002, with five upper floors unfinished and the rest quite drab, with a demotivated workforce. It is now a shining beacon in Portugal’s hotel sector, among the finest in terms of décor and certainly among the more successful in financial terms.”
Corinthia Tripoli is a very eventful holding. “It is certainly one of our best-maintained hotels, and now also back to an improving financial position.” The office block on the Hotel’s grounds in the foreground has been leased to oil companies for many years.
Corinthia London is “our beloved hotel, where our Corinthia name and style have come to be known and much loved by a globally discerning clientele and on whose reputation we have continued to build our brand beyond. We have completed refurbishing and adding some 30 of our suites this year and will now focus on our regular rooms and restaurant.”
Simon then shared his vision for the future, encompassing both immediate plans and long-term goals. “We welcome 11 new hotels to our family.”
Hotels completed and opened in 2024 are:
Corinthia Bucharest: The Grand Hotel du Boulevard, built in 1867, is a landmark in the city. “The project is ready, thanks to the project management of QP, and now, in the hands of CHL to launch and manage as the city’s finest hotel in early 2025.”
Corinthia Bucharest
Corinthia Brussels has brought the best out of the Group. “Our IHI Team led the acquisition, financing and development management. QP provided project management and, in some areas, interior design, whilst CHL will now take on the responsibility of managing the hotel. This was not an easy project. It involved demolishing and rebuilding most of the property other than the façade and the historic ground floor, which we carefully restored under the watchful eye of Belgium’s Royal Commission.”
Corinthia Brussels
The Surrey, A Corinthia Hotel New York is a huge success and is an especially important hotel to Corinthia. “It is our first in the United States, a market from which one-third of our guests in all our other hotels combined come from, our single, largest source of business as a portfolio.”
The Surrey, A Corinthia Hotel, New York
Hotels that are opening soon:
Corinthia Rome will open in 2025. “This is the old Bank of Italy Headquarters, opposite the Italian Parliament. The top location in the Eternal City and a great flagship for us as we expand our business in Italy, one of the world’s most visited countries across all its regions.”
Corinthia Rome
Corinthia Doha will be completed in 18 months. “The structure is up, and internal finishes on the 110 bedrooms, restaurants and amenities are underway. The golf course is ready and in use, as is the yacht club further down The Pearl, which we have been operating since we opened at the time of the soccer World Cup two years ago.”
Corinthia Doha
Corinthia Riyadh is being built in the old town of Diriyah in Riyadh, the capital of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.“The Kingdom has selected 10 hotel brands to come into the most prestigious of these Giga Projects, and our hotel is the best located…We will have 80 keys and 10 villas for sale. In fact, our villas were the first property to be put out for sale, at record prices for Riyadh, of which most are already sold.”
Corinthia Maldives. Its design is almost done, inspired by the ocean’s Manta Ray. “This is another project where IHI is involved through CHL, and now also negotiating to get involved with QP and possibly, directly as investors too.”
Corinthia Maldives
Oasis (Malta). “In the undeveloped, protected north of the Island, where we own 80,000 sqm of land next to our own Golden Sands Hotel, we have planned and designed a beautiful resort hotel, with 162 keys, and to one side, 25 villas which we will develop and sell inside the managed complex, a first for Malta at the top end.
“We are currently midway through a public consultation process for the planning permit, which we hope to get by June 2025…All buildings are in traditional Maltese style and using local materials, and all are low-rise, either bungalows or two floors at most.
Oasis
“The hotel and villas will occupy less than 20% of the total land area. We have, in fact, already acquired several hundred trees and planted them on site to be mature as and when we complete the project.”
Simon also referred to other interesting prospects in the pipeline that will expand the Corinthia name, but it is too early and inopportune to publish.
At this point, Simon returned to his initial question: Where do we go from here? And his mood changed into a rallying call.
“The future is clear. We all have the most wonderful opportunity to be part of a great, continuing story. Let us fly our flag in all corners of the world.
“There is nothing we cannot handle!
“We have persevered and stood proudly in some of the world’s top addresses. Madison Avenue, Rue Royale, Whitehall Place, Piazza Parlamento, Erzebet Korut, Grace Bay, Wilshire Boulevard, Nevskijj Prospekt…
“And all roads started from de Paule Avenue in Malta.
“As we go forward, IHI will reach a capital of over €1 billion in the near future.
“God willing, we will have new partners, new hotels, new businesses. We will operate as a plc on a major exchange.
“To get there, we need to stick to our values and the family spirit that keeps us together even when we are in stressful situations or at loggerheads with one another’s views. Let us mentor and look for younger talent to climb up the ranks and help us along this journey.
”Let us remain elegant in our style, not only in our hotels and service but in how we conduct business and ourselves. Let us focus on financial rigour.
“The Company exists to deliver financial results. We have endured a pandemic and resulting inflation, including our financing costs, which we estimate to have cost us well over €300 million over the past few years. And yet we are here today, alive and embarking on a rapid expansion that will generate the planned rewards.
“We will hit our target earnings profitability of over €100 million per annum sooner than we think.
“Financial success comes with intelligent decisions, a frugal mindset on cost, and the ability to reach out to the world to work with us.
“There is no time to waste. Tonight, we celebrate a year of achievement and happiness. Tomorrow, we’re back to work.”
