The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A bidding war has erupted for downtown Nassau’s British Colonial Hilton resort, with at least two rival groups - one said to have Bahamian involvement - emerging to challenge the $74 million offer submitted by a multi-billion New York asset manager.

Sources familiar with developments told Tribune Business that the resort’s existing owners were hoping a potential $80 million bid from a London-based investor group might materialise imminently, following negotiations last week. The drafting of a sales agreement/contract is now awaited.

And this newspaper was also told that prominent Bahamian businessman James Mosko, head of the Mosko Group of Companies and the Arawak Port Development (APD) Company’s chairman, was involved in helping to put together a third investor group to bid on the British Colonial Hilton.

Mr Mosko did not return cell phone messages left for him yesterday seeking comment, but multiple well-placed sources confirmed his involvement with the group, which is said to have some Chinese interest.

The British Colonial Hilton is jointly owned by the Canadian Commercial Workers Industry Pension Plan (CCWIPP), the pension provider for Canadian supermarket workers, and Adurion, the Swiss/UK boutique investment house and private equity player.

“That was what they were hoping for. They’ve played it well. There is significant interest in it,” one source said of the brewing bidding war over the British Colonial Hilton.

The same source described reports of Mr Mosko’s, and Chinese, involvement as “legitimate”. They added that it was unclear “at this point in time” which direction the CCWIPP/Adurion combination had decided to move in.

For the Bahamas, downtown Nassau and the Hilton’s staff, the key will be what any buyer’s plans for the hotel are, and particularly what they would seek to do with the vacant land to the property’s immediate west - a site long seen as ideal for an upscale marina, retail and office development.

Tribune Business understands that Colliers, a Canadian/US real estate firm, had been engaged to market the British Colonial Hilton. But, given the sometimes tense relationship between CCWIPP and Adurion, a deal is not certain until it is signed, sealed and delivered.

This newspaper reported pre-Christmas that the New York-based fund manager’s offer was close to the British Colonial Hilton owners’ target price, and they were mulling over whether to accept it.

The same New York asset manager also “made a pretty good offer to pick up South Ocean”, but that was rejected by CCWIPP, the property’s sole owner.

The purchase price offered was in the $45 million range, and Tribune Business also revealed that the Canadian pension fund had altered course by hiring Australian professional golfer, Greg Norman’s, company to “package” the property and seek out a buyer.

Greg Norman Golf Course Design re-designed the South Ocean golf course several years ago, when CCWIPP had partnered with RHS Ventures and Plainfield Asset Management in an unsuccessful bid to re-open the resort - a venture that ultimately ended in a bitter New York legal battle.

Tribune Business, though, understands that RHS Ventures and its principal, Roger Stein, could be headed for a return to New Providence in partnership with the New York-based asset manager, if the latter’s bid for the British Colonial Hilton is successful.

Prime Minister Perry Christie, in September last year, exclusively confirmed to Tribune Business the New York asset manager’s interest in the Hilton and South Ocean.

He said then: “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.”

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.”