SOK acquires operations of Viru Hotel in Tallinn

The business operations of the Viru Hotel in Tallinn, which is the largest hotel in the Baltic states and a landmark of the Estonian capital, will be acquired by SOK. SOK is the central organisation of the S-Group, which runs supermarket chains Prisma, Alepa, and S-Market in Finland. Sokos hotels are also part of the group, and Viru will now become the first foreign hotel in the chain. SOK will take over the operations of the Viru Hotel in September. The property itself will not be sold, so Sokos Hotel Viru will officially be a tenant. According to Matti Pulkki, the head of SOK's hotel and restaurant business, the drawings for a new Sokos hotel in Tallinn had already been completed, but the well-established operations of Viru were deemed a better alternative. Viru has over 400 rooms, and around one hundred more should be added in spring 2004. A conference centre that can host nearly one thousand guests will be opened in autumn this year. Work on a new restaurant is also close to completion.