Latest update April 4th, 2025 6:13 AM
In 10 years unnamed private investor to rake in US$46M on US$8M Marriott investment
– GRA to get nothing for 10 years
The unnamed private investor that is scheduled to put in US$8M in the Georgetown Marriott Hotel is expected to rake in approximately US$46M by the end of 10 years.
This is documented in the extract of the feasibility report undertaken by Miami-based HVS Consulting and Valuation and was recently released to the media.
AHI Chairman, Winston Brassington
At the same time Atlantic Hotel Inc will be exempt from corporation tax, withholding tax and property tax, as a result of a 10-year tax holiday. This will increase the gross revenue for the investors.
According to the report, during the first three years of the hotel’s operation, Atlantic Hotel Inc (AHI) will pay the still to be named private investor US$1.3M.
From year four of the hotel’s operation, the unnamed private investor will be paid US$1.2M each year for the next six years.
According to the report, in year 10 of its operation, that unnamed private investor will be paid a whopping US$37.2M setting the rate of return over the 10-year period at 22.2 per cent.
This publication had recently reported that five years after the hotel opens its doors, AHI will have to secure another loan of almost US$2M.
That loan will be repaid in a five-year period, earning a seven per cent rate of return.
Chairman of AHI, Winston Brassington, was asked to comment and clarify why the hotel would need this second loan, five years into the operations of the project, but he asked that the questions be submitted via email.
To date he has not provided this publication with any official explanation.
AHI is the Special Purpose Vehicle created for the construction and ownership of the Marriott Hotel.
AHI is currently wholly owned by the Government of Guyana, but when the unnamed investor puts in the promised US$8M, that person will become majority owner.
The extract of the feasibility report that was released to the media said too that this additional money that will have to be borrowed will be considered a ‘junior debt’ and will be repaid immediately after payments are made to the loans sourced by Republic Bank.
This publication had also reported that not a dollar on Guyana’s equity in the hotel will be repaid until the 10th year of its operation.
This too is documented in the feasibility study, of which only an extract was released by Brassington.
The hotel is designed to be a debt and equity project, with a US$12M investment securing ownership of the project, and will in turn be responsible for an initial US$46.5M in loans to complete the hotel and entertainment complex.
The consultant’s impression of what the lobby of the hotel will look like.
Money from the accounts of the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) was used to invest in the Marriott Hotel Project, as well as a loan, totaling US$19.5M – a US15.5M loan and an investment of US$4M.
The US$4M invested as equity by NICIL gives it 33 per cent ownership, according to Winston Brassington. The unnamed private investor that is slated to put US$8M into the project will own 67 per cent of the hotel and will receive returns on their money from the first year of the hotel’s operation.
AHI is still to execute financial closure for some US$39M of the required US$58.5M for the completion of the hotel, but Brassington has downplayed any notion that this would not happen.
According to the AHI Chairman, “When we started the project, we knew that we were still missing the equity investor.”
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