Marriott’s investors remain a mystery

Apr 22, 2015 News

Government opened the Marriott Hotel in Kingston amidst much hype last Thursday but downplayed the presence of one of its potential investors who is to take control of 67 percent of its equity shares. There was no announcement during the ribbon-cutting ceremony that Xu

There was mention of the presence of a Hong Kong investor last week during the opening of the US$51M Marriott Hotel in Kingston.

Han, one of the two Hong Kong businessman named, was even present.
Later that evening when a reception was held at the US$51M-plus hotel, there was also no mention of the presence of the potential investor. He was not announced to the media and other invitees present.
There has been much speculation about the investors who through a company, Ace Square Investments Limited, will plug in US$8M and gain control of two-thirds of the equity shares.
In May last year, Atlantic Hotel Inc. (AHI), the special company created to oversee the hotel’s construction and operations, announced that the principal investors in AHI are National Industrial and Commercial Investment Limited (NICIL), which has invested US$4M, and BVI-registered ACE Square.
ACE Square, through a BVI-registered holding company, Big Splendor Limited, is controlled by two Hong Kong businessmen, Victor How Chung Chan, and Xu Han.
The Hong Kong businessmen were tipped to also run the entertainment complex of Marriott Hotel which comprises the planned, money-making casino and nightclub, but AHI announced earlier this year that Marriott International has instead been given the contract to do so.
Last year, the Opposition, through Desmond Trotman, a former Parliamentarian, filed a court case blocking the hotel from transferring the lands and mortgaging it. It effectively blocked more than US$20M from coming in from the investors. The Hong Kong investment was also blocked.
The calls are now on for government to sell shares of the hotel to locals instead of a virtually unknown foreign investor.
Questions about the identity of the principals of Ace Square have been among the issues that have been casting a shadow over the investments of Marriott Hotel.
The Opposition has questioned government over the existence of the investors and the logic behind giving control of the hotel to an investor for a mere US$8M when the facilities are worth in excess of US$51M.
The hotel, with its entertainment centre still incomplete, opened with the presence of protestors last week. The hotel has been touted as a top project but its financing from taxpayers’ monies without oversight from the National Assembly has raised continuous questions.
There was a glaring absence of the Opposition at the event even though they were formally invited.
The 197-room Marriott Hotel in Kingston was hailed by government as one of the special projects to boost tourism and hospitality. But it started off on a rocky road. From the transfer of the lands to the murky details of the financing, there were many questions from the Opposition, leading to clashes even in the National Assembly.
It was only after continuous pressure that government finally released a partial feasibility study of the project.
From the inception of the project, it has been one filled with controversy, as billions of taxpayers’ dollars were spent by government on the edifice and without the authority of the National Assembly. It was supposed to be a private/public partnership project. It ended up mostly being a government one.