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Sale of Marriott Hotel in final stages – Jagdeo
Kaieteur News – American businessman, Ramy El-Batrawi, will soon be the new owner of the profitable Guyana Marriott Hotel. El-Batrawi was the highest bidder, proposing the sum of US$90 Million for the acquisition of the Kingston, Georgetown property.
American businessman, Ramy El-Batrawi
The sale of the hotel is being facilitated by the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL).
During a press conference on Thursday, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo was asked for an update on the sale of the hotel which began in December 2022.
“It’s basically to wrap up the negotiation with the bidder, the sooner they can wrap that up, the better, I don’t know if they have completed that…” Jagdeo responded. He continued by stating that following the finalization of the sale of the hotel, the documents will then be submitted to Cabinet. However, the Vice President said, “The Cabinet has already accepted the highest bid which is (US) 90 Million dollars.”
Thereafter, Kaieteur News contacted Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NICIL, Radha Krishna Sharma, who explained that NICIL is still in the process of finalizing the sale of the hotel with the American businessman.
Last year, the Government of Guyana (GoG) announced that it will be selling the hotel. Negotiations with El-Batrawi and NICIL began in June 2023.
Following the announcement, six companies had submitted their proposals for the hotel. However, in May, the government had informed the bidders that their initial bids were rejected, because the bids were too low and did not reflect the true value of the hotel. Thereafter, four bidders dropped out leaving X, LLC owned by El-Batrawi, and local consortium Integrated Group Guyana Limited, headed by Ravindra Prashad, whose second bid was US$86.1 million, falling short of El-Batrawi’s proposal.
Construction of the Marriott Hotel started under the Bharrat Jagdeo-led administration. Taxpayers’ money along with a syndicated loan through the Republic Bank Limited of Trinidad was used to finance the project. The hotel opened its doors on April 17, 2015.
The Guyana Marriott Hotel
Under the syndicated loan agreement, the preferred rights go to those investors – meaning that in the event of the hotel being unable to service the loan – the unknown investors would have the first privilege to the proceeds of a sale.
Meanwhile, Kaieteur News had highlighted that El-Batrawi was barred by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) back in 2010 from acting as an officer or director of a public company for a period of five years. Notably, while El-Batrawi never accepted wrongdoings, in April 2010 the final judgment resulted in him being barred from running a public company for five years.
Vice President (VP), Bharrat Jagdeo
Moreover, El-Batrawi visited Guyana twice last year, October 2022, and November 2022. The American businessman had praised the time he spent with President Irfaan Ali during his visits to Guyana. One month later, NICIL announced the Government’s decision to sell the hotel.
In March 2023, Jagdeo revealed that despite the criticism the hotel faced when the construction was announced – the hotel had emerged as a profitable venture, but justified the sale of the hotel by stating that it was a business decision.
In fact, the VP said during a press conference that while the hotel is making a profit, it is of no supreme benefit to the Government owning it anymore. Jagdeo continued by saying that within a few years, several hotels are expected to come on stream and in order to avoid competition, this is the best time to maximise the profit and sell the hotel.
According to Jagdeo, the proceeds of the sale is to be used, “to clear off the remaining loan and some of it will come back to the Treasury to be used back for whatever purpose is determined.”
Notably, a decision by the former administration resulted in US$1.1 million ($226 million) of taxpayers’ money coming out every six months (since 2017) to service the US$27 million loan from the bank – for a 13-year period.
This was after the hotel was unable to service the loan. In order to prevent the hotel from being acquired by the bank, the APNU+AFC Government in April 2017 transferred the hotel’s financial obligations to the Central Government. However, VP Jagdeo stated that while in Opposition, the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) was opposed to the hotel’s financial obligation being transferred.
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