Audits for the Guyana Marriott Hotel have been completed up to 2019 and these accounts will be published upon completion of the audit for the year ended 2021.
This was disclosed last week by government holding company, National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) in response to questions from Stabroek News.
NICIL said that the public records of the Commercial Registry would reflect that the last annual returns filed for Atlantic Hotel Inc (AHI), the special purpose company set up to manage the hotel, was for the year ended 31st December 2015.
It said that in March 2015, before the PPP/C Administration left office, the financial statements of AHI up to the year ended 31st December, 2014, were audited. It added that when the PPP/C Administration reassumed office in August 2020, it was found that the accounts of the company were audited only up to the year ended 31st December, 2015.
A new Board of Directors for AHI was appointed and in December 2020, the Board engaged the Office of the Auditor General, who appointed Chartered Accountants Nizam Ali and Company to complete the outstanding audits of AHI in March 2021.
NICIL said that to date, the audits for the years ended 31st December, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019, have been completed, together with the field audits for the years ended 31st December 2020, and 2021.
NICIL said that AHI was advised by Nizam Ali and Company that the audit for the year ended December 2022 is ongoing.
“AHI has therefore successfully managed to commission and complete the audits of its accounts for five years in a span of less than two years. These accounts will be published upon completion of the audit of the year ended 2021”, NICIL said. NICIL is the sole shareholder of AHI.
Completion of the audits will be seen as crucial as NICIL has put the hotel on the market.
In response to questions from this newspaper, NICIL said that eight expressions of interest were received for the purchase of the state’s shares in the Guyana Marriott Hotel and five of the entities have since taken the process a step further.
Last year, NICIL issued a ‘Pre-qualification Notice’ seeking Expressions of Interest (EOIs) from persons or companies, individually or as part of a joint venture/ consortium, with an interest in purchasing its shares in AHI for the acquisition of the Guyana Marriott Hotel (GMH).
The closing date for EOIs was 10th January, 2023 at 2:00 pm. Applications for pre-qualification were to include the following: financial capability in terms of net worth, audited financial statements for the last three financial years, net worth of a minimum of US$250m and a letter of financial capability from a recognised financial institution to acquire NICIL’s shares in AHI for the Guyana Marriott Hotel.
AHI said “Eight (8) expressions of interest applications were received from diverse companies and consortiums locally, regionally, and internationally”. No names were provided of the eight that expressed interest.
AHI added that all eight applicants were written to and invited to submit a bid by paying a fee to purchase an information package which consisted of unaudited financial statements, agreements, architectural plans, and other pertinent information on AHI.
To date, it said that five of the eight applicants have paid for and uplifted information packages. The deadline for submission of bids is 17th April 2023. AHI did not identify the five companies.
The hotel was controversially built with state and other funds and had been unable to service a key loan which the government had to subsequently take responsibility for. The hotel had its origins under the last Jagdeo administration.
