The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

A $30 billion New York-based asset manager has made offers to acquire the British Colonial Hilton and South Ocean resort properties, the Prime Minister confirmed yesterday, with both New Providence hotels on the market for sale.

Confirming that the asset manager had made a “significant offer” to acquire South Ocean, Prime Minister Perry Christie told Tribune Business: “I have met recently with the owners of the Hilton hotel, that is the pension fund and the Swiss developer. They have placed it for sale.

“I know they are receiving offers of some significance. The pension fund, in meetings with them last week, indicated that they were receiving offers for South Ocean. They are assessing those offers, and a part of those assessments is a new valuation of the property itself, so that they could really look in context at what is being offered.”

South Ocean is owned by the Canadian Commercial Workers Industry Pension Plan (CCWIPP), which also has a substantial equity stake in the British Colonial Hilton. Its joint venture partner at the British Colonial Hilton is the Swiss/UK boutique investment house, Adurion.

Mr Christie added: “They [CCWIPP] have assured me they taking steps rapidly to see to the sale and new investments in that area [South Ocean].

“They are flexible, meaning that they have before partnered with persons who were investors, and I think what they would want to do is to ensure that they get the maximum offer for the property from someone with the capacity to develop it. I am aware that a major equity fund has made a significant offer.”

Tribune Business was told by sources close to developments that the Government and CCWIPP met in Nassau last Friday to discuss the latter’s plans for both resorts, and what it planned to do with the offers received to-date.

This newspaper was told that a $30 billion, New York-based asset management fund had “made an offer to buy both the British Colonial Hilton and South Ocean. The Government is very supportive of that effort”.

Tribune Business was told that in relation to South Ocean, which has effectively been closed for some six-seven years, CCWIPP promised to get an appraisal, seek “a fair price and sell it”.

The pension fund has promised to respond to the Government by mid-end September, with the latter having warned that it “can’t commit” to the property’s casino licence, development rights and road re-routing unless some developent takes place.

As for the Hilton, Tribune Business was told that Adurion and CCWIPP had “agreed to market the property” at a certain agreed price. The asset manager’s offer has come in at that price, and the two existing owners now have to decide whether they will accept it and move on.

Last year the Bahamian Court of Appeal overturned a Supreme Court ruling that prevented CCWIPP from foreclosing on a defaulted $72.5 million mortgage held on South Ocean.

The foreclosure had previously been stopped on the grounds that the Central Bank had not granted exchange control approval for repayment of the loans.