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$98m paid for Phuket resort
Report from Bangkok Post dated Wednesday 3 May 2006 :-
$98m paid for Phuket resort
Dubai - The Dubai-based hotel group Kingdom Hotel Investments yesterday announced its first foray into Asia with the $98.5-million (3.9 billion baht) purchase of the Karon Beach Hotel in Phuket. The hotel company, chaired by Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, said it purchased the property, currently managed by Crowne Plaza, from LaSalle Investment Management, a division of the property company Jones Lang LaSalle.
The deal included $30.5 million baht in debt.
KHI will rebrand the hotel as a Movenpick. It comprises 352 rooms, including 186 villa-suites with private plunge pools and 30 two-bedroom apartments to be sold as leasehold and run by the hotel.
The hotel opened in 1984 as the Karon Villa Resort and was acquired by LaSalle in December 2003. It was closed during 2004 and most of 2005 for major renovations and reopened in August last year.
KHI said it would raise additional debt and would seek to sell the 30 two-bedroom apartments attached to the hotel within two years.
''The hotel will benefit from the recovery of tourist arrivals to the region and through Movenpick will capture increasing levels of European demand,'' Prince Alwaleed said in a statement. REUTERS
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