NEW YORK: Indian-American hotelier Sant Singh Chatwal has expressed “hope” that the deal to sell for USD 600 million a majority stake in the iconic US-based Plaza Hotel, in which the embattled Sahara Group led by Subrata Roy Sahara owns a 70 per cent stake, is closed soon.
Chatwal confirmed that he will be signing the contract for the deal.
“Hopefully. We hope that the deal will close by the end of June,” Chatwal told PTI. He did not comment further on the details of the deal.
A report in the New York Times said that Shahal Khan, founder of the Dubai-based family office White City Ventures, and Kamran Hakim of the Hakim Organization, a major New York City landlord had reached a deal to buy a majority share of the Plaza Hotel for USD 600 million.
Roy’s Sahara-led Sahara Group owns a 70 per cent stake in the Plaza Hotel. The deal is scheduled to close on June 25.
The report added that Sandeep Wadhwa, head of corporate finance at the Sahara Group confirmed the deal. Chatwal, who also confirmed the deal to NYT, owns the other 5 per cent being sold.
The Sahara Group had been trying for a long time to sell the property, and last year, it hired brokerage firm Jones Lang LaSalle to carry out an auction of the property.
Roy, chairman of the Sahara Group, and Chatwal had bought their shared stake in the hotel in 2012.
“The latest deal follows a string of reported sales that never came to fruition, though this time the buyers have made a USD 30 million deposit that they would forfeit if they backed out, making a completed sale more likely,” the report said.
The Plaza Hotel, opened in 1907, is a city landmark and the only hotel listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The hotel was once owned by US President Donald Trump, who lost it in a bankruptcy.
The report added that the deal is “complicated” by the fact that a partnership of the Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp, a real-estate firm, and Kingdom Holdings, which is controlled by the Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talel, owns the remaining 25 per cent of the Plaza.
While the partners have the right of first refusal to buy the hotel at the same valuation, that right is set to expire sometime in the next week.
While a deal has been reached to sell the majority stake, the NYT report said that the transaction is complex.
The USD 600 million purchase price includes the refinancing of a more than USD 410 million mortgage on the hotel. Qatari Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani holds the mortgage, which is set to mature in early July.
In 2010, Sahara had purchased the Grosvenor House, a historic hotel in London. Last year, Ashkenazy Acquisition, with financing from Al Thani, acquired that hotel. As part of that deal, the Qatari Sheikh took over the mortgage on the Plaza. PTI
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