Millennium & Copthorne Hotels has agreed a joint venture with a Chinese real estate company to develop and operate a new five-star hotel in Beijing.

The international hotel group has teamed up with the Beijing Xiangjiang Xingli Real Estate Development Company to build a 28-storey, 520-bedroom Millennium Beijing in the heart of the city's new central business district.

The hotel, which is M&C's second project in China, will be located at the Beijing Fortune Plaza mixed-use development site. It is scheduled to open in the first half of 2008, in time for the Beijing Olympics.

Kwek Leng Beng, chairman of M&C hotels said: "Securing the Millennium Beijing anchors our presence in China and is a key development in our stated aim to grow in Asia."

M&C currently holds 30% of the joint venture, although this is expected to increase to 70% by the end of the year.