Carlyle acquires 49 pct of mid-market China hotel chain

HONG KONG, July 5 (Reuters) - U.S. buyout fund Carlyle Group LP said on Thursday that it has acquired 49 percent of China's Mandarin Hotel Holdings Ltd for an undisclosed sum, giving it control of the company.

Eric Zhang, a managing director at Carlyle, will become the company's co-chairman.

Mandarin Hotel owns and operates 25 designer hotels in the mid-market segment under the Crystal Orange Hotel and Orange Hotel brands, with rooms priced from 300 yuan to 700 yuan ($47 to $110) per night.

The hotels target business and leisure travellers, with operations in Beijing, Dalian, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Ningbo and Tianjin.