As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 10, 2021

Registration No. 333-__________

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM S-8

REGISTRATION STATEMENT UNDER

THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

InterContinental Hotels Group PLC

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

PART I

INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE SECTION 10(a) PROSPECTUS

Item 1. Plan Information

     Omitted pursuant to the instructions and provisions of Form S-8.

Item 2. Registrant Information and Employee Plan Annual Information

     Omitted pursuant to the instructions and provisions of Form S-8.

PART II

INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT

Item 3. Incorporation of Documents by Reference.

The following documents are incorporated herein by reference:

(a)       The InterContinental Hotels Group PLC Annual Report and Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2020, filed with the Commission on March 4, 2021 (the “Form 20-F”);

(b)       All reports filed pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”) since December 31, 2020; and

(c)       The description of the Registrant’s Ordinary Shares of 20³⁴⁰/₃₉₉ pence per share (“Ordinary Shares”) and American Depositary Shares, each representing one Ordinary Share, evidenced by American Depositary Receipts, contained in the Registrant’s Registration Statement on Form F-6, as filed with the Commission on April 15, 2015 and on the Form 20-F (as applicable).

In addition, all filings on Form 20-F filed by the Registrant pursuant to the Exchange Act after the date of this Registration Statement and prior to the termination of the distribution contemplated hereby are incorporated by reference in this Registration Statement from the date of filing such documents or reports. Also, to the extent designated therein, Reports on Form 6-K filed or furnished by the Registrant after the date hereof and prior to the termination of the distribution contemplated hereby are incorporated by reference in this Registration Statement from the date of filing or furnishing such documents or reports.

All documents subsequently filed by the Registrant pursuant to Sections 13(a), 13(c), 14 and 15(d) of the Exchange Act, prior to the filing of the post-effective amendment which indicates that all securities offered have been sold or which deregisters all securities then remaining unsold, shall be deemed to be incorporated by reference in the Registration Statement and to be part thereof from the date of filing of such documents. Any statement contained in a document incorporated or deemed to be incorporated by reference herein shall be deemed to be modified or superseded for purposes of this Registration Statement to the extent that a statement contained herein or in any other subsequently filed document which also is deemed to be incorporated by reference herein modifies or supersedes such statement. Any such statement so modified or superseded shall not be deemed, except as so modified or superseded, to constitute a part of this Registration Statement.

Item 4. Description of Securities.

Not applicable.

Item 5. Interests of Named Experts and Counsel.

Not applicable.

Item 6. Indemnification of Directors and Officers.

Article 156.1 of the Registrant’s Articles of Association provides:

“Subject to the provisions of, and so far as may be permitted by and consistent with, the Statutes and rules made by the UK Listing Authority, every Director and officer of the Company and of each of the Associated Companies of the Company shall be indemnified by the Company out of its own funds against:

156.1.1 any liability incurred by or attaching to him in connection with any negligence, default, breach of duty or breach of trust by him in relation to the Company or any Associated Company of the Company in the actual or purported execution and/or discharge of his duties and/or the exercise or purported exercise of his powers other than:

(i)       any liability to the Company or any Associated Company; and

(ii)      any liability of the kind referred to in Section 234(3) of the Companies Act 2006; and

156.1.2 any other liability incurred by or attaching to him in the actual or purported execution and/or discharge of his duties and/or the exercise or purported exercise of his powers and/or otherwise in relation to or in connection with his duties, powers or office.

Such indemnity shall extend to liabilities arising after a person ceases to be a Director or an officer of the Company in respect of acts or omissions while he was a Director or an officer if such acts or omissions would have been indemnified had the relevant person remained a Director or officer, as the case may be.”

Article 156.2 of the Registrant’s Articles of Association provides:

“Subject to the Companies Acts and rules made by the UK Listing Authority the Company may indemnify a Director of the Company and any Associated Company of the Company if it is the trustee of an occupational pension scheme (within the meaning of Section 235(6) of the Companies Act 2006).”

Article 156.3 of the Registrant’s Articles of Association provides:

“Where a Director or officer is indemnified against any liability in accordance with this Article 156, such indemnity shall extend to all costs, charges, losses, expenses and liabilities incurred by him in relation thereto.”

Article 156.4 of the Registrant’s Articles of Association provides:

“In this Article 156 “Associated Company” shall have the meaning given thereto by Section 256 of the Companies Act 2006.”

Section 232 of the Companies Act 2006 provides:

(a) section 233 (provision of insurance), 

(b) section 234 (qualifying third party indemnity provision), or  

(c) section 235 (qualifying pension scheme indemnity provision).

Section 233 of the Companies Act 2006 provides:

Section 232(2) (voidness of provisions for indemnifying directors) does not prevent a company from purchasing and maintaining for a director of the company, or of an associated company, insurance against any such liability as is mentioned in that subsection.

Section 234 of the Companies Act 2006 provides:

Such provision is qualifying third party indemnity provision if the following requirements are met.

Section 235 of the Companies Act 2006 provides:

Section 236 of the Companies Act 2006 provides:

   Such provision is referred to in this section as “qualifying indemnity provision”.

Section 1157 of the Companies Act 2006 provides:

it appears to the court hearing the case that the officer or person is or may be liable but that he acted honestly and reasonably, and that having regard to all the circumstances of the case (including those connected with his appointment) he ought fairly to be excused, the court may relieve him, either wholly or in part, from his liability on such terms as it thinks fit.

Item 7. Exemption from Registration Claimed.

Not applicable.

Item 8. Exhibits.

*Filed herewith.

Item 9. Undertakings.

(a)       The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes:

(1)       To file, during any period in which offers or sales are being made, a post-effective amendment to this Registration Statement:

(i)       To include any prospectus required by Section 10(a)(3) of the Securities Act;

(ii)       To reflect in the prospectus any facts or events arising after the effective date of this Registration Statement (or the most recent post-effective amendment thereof) which, individually or in the aggregate, represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in this Registration Statement. Notwithstanding the foregoing, any increase or decrease in volume of securities offered (if the total dollar value of securities offered would not exceed that which was registered) and any deviation from the low or high end of the estimated maximum offering range may be reflected in the form of prospectus filed with the Commission pursuant to Rule 424(b) if, in the aggregate, the changes in volume and price represent no more than a 20 % change in the maximum aggregate offering price set forth in the “Calculation of Registration Fee” table in this registration statement; and

(iii)       To include any material information with respect to the Plans not previously disclosed in this Registration Statement or any material change to such information in this Registration Statement;

provided, however, that paragraphs (a)(1)(i) and (a)(1)(ii) do not apply if the information required to be included in a post-effective amendment by those paragraphs is contained in periodic reports filed with or furnished to the Commission by the Registrant pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act that are incorporated by reference in this Registration Statement.

(2)       That, for the purpose of determining any liability under the Securities Act, each such post-effective amendment shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.

(3)       To remove from registration by means of a post-effective amendment any of the securities being registered which remain unsold at the termination of the offering.

(b)       The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes that, for purposes of determining any liability under the Securities Act, each filing of the Registrant’s annual report pursuant to Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act (and, where applicable, each filing of an employee benefit plan’s annual report pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act) that is incorporated by reference in this Registration Statement shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.

(c)       Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons of the Registrant pursuant to the provisions referenced in Item 6 of this Registration Statement, or otherwise, the Registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the Securities and Exchange Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by the Registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer, or controlling person of the Registrant in the successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person in connection with the securities being registered hereunder, the Registrant will, unless in the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question of whether such indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act, the Registrant certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all of the requirements for filing on Form S-8 and has duly caused this Registration Statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in the city of London, England on March 10, 2021.

POWER OF ATTORNEY

KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS, that each person whose signature appears below, constitutes and appoints Keith Barr, Paul Edgecliffe-Johnson and Nicolette Henfrey, and each of them, our true and lawful attorneys-in-fact and agents, with full power of substitution and resubstitution, to do any and all acts and things and execute, in the name of the undersigned, any and all instruments which said attorneys-in-fact and agents may deem necessary or advisable in order to enable InterContinental Hotels Group PLC to comply with the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and any requirements of the Securities and Exchange Commission in respect thereof, in connection with the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission of one or more registration statements on Form S-8 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, including, specifically, but without limitation, power and authority to sign the name of the undersigned to any such registration statement, and any amendments to any such registration statement (including post-effective amendments), and to file the same with all exhibits thereto and other documents in connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, to sign any and all applications, registration statements, notices or other documents necessary or advisable to comply with applicable state securities laws, and to file the same, together with other documents in connection therewith with the appropriate state securities authorities, granting unto said attorneys-in-fact and agents, and each of them, full power and authority to do and to perform each and every act and thing requisite or necessary to be done in and about the premises, as fully and to all intents and purposes as the undersigned might or could do in person, hereby ratifying and confirming all that said attorneys-in-fact and agents, and any of them, or their substitutes, may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, this Registration Statement has been signed by the following persons in the capacities and on the dates indicated.

 

Signature	Title	Date
/s/ Keith Barr	Director and Chief Executive Officer	March 10, 2021
Keith Barr	(principal executive officer)
/s/ Paul Edgecliffe-Johnson	Director and Chief Financial Officer	March 10, 2021
Paul Edgecliffe-Johnson	(principal financial and accounting officer)
/s/ Elie Maalouf		March 10, 2021
Elie Maalouf	Director
/s/ Ian Dyson		March 10, 2021
Ian Dyson	Director
/s/ Jo Harlow		March 10, 2021
Jo Harlow	Director
/s/ Jill McDonald		March 10, 2021
Jill McDonald	Director
/s/ Graham Allan		March 10, 2021
Graham Allan	Director
/s/ Arthur de Haast		March 10, 2021
Arthur de Haast	Director
/s/ Nimesh Patel		March 10, 2021
Nimesh Patel	U.S. Duly Authorized Representative