The Princess Group of Companies has not yet taken over the management of Buddy’s International Hotel as yet, said the new investor of the hotel, Sudi Özkan.
Speaking with the Stabroek News from Belarus where he was attending the opening of a new investment, the Crowne Plaza Minsk, Özkan, the Chief Executive Officer of the Princess Group of Companies said that he had plans to upgrade the Providence hotel but had not taken over the management as yet.
This was because some outstanding issues regarding credits and transfers were to be settled before the current management of Buddy’s could hand over the property. However, he said he expected that the takeover could be done by October.
Contacted about the management handover to the new owners Omprakash Shivraj said, “I have no comments to make.”
In May, Özkan was reported as saying that he had bought Buddy’s International Hotel for the sum of US$15 million and planned to invest US$10 million to upgrade it to a five-star hotel. At present, the hotel is believed to be pushing a two-star rating, with visitors down to a minimum.
The hotel was reportedly built at a cost of US$13 million with several mortgages and a loan from the Guyana government, part of which has been repaid in cash with an outstanding balance which was to have been wiped clean through room nights granted to the government.
Özkan had also indicated he would be taking over the liabilities of the hotel, but it is still unclear as to whether the remainder of the loan which Buddy’s had been granted by the Guyana government for accommodation for Cricket World Cup 2007 has been paid off or whether the credit has been cleared through room nights.
In addition, he said that the facilities at the hotel itself needed upgrading and this included the furnishings. “Many things not good,” the Turkish investor said apologising for his English.
Ozkan is currently in Belarus where his company has restored the former Svisloch Hotel at a cost of US$50 million, and has built Minsk’s largest casino within the hotel. The Svisloch Hotel was constructed in 1938 and was heavily damaged during World War II. It is a protected heritage item, which created some difficulties for the new investor to renovate. As a consequence the renovation work took over eight years to complete.
The hotel was known as a favourite haunt of Stalin.
