The National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) has accepted the US$90m bid by Egypt-born, US businessman Ramy El-Batrawi as the winning tender and the process of finalizing the deal is currently underway, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday said.
When asked for an update on the sale of the Guyana Marriott Hotel during a press conference he hosted at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, Jagdeo informed that cabinet has already approved the proposed US$S90 million bid.
He made it clear that the finalization of the deal was left to be handled by the state holding company NICIL and they are supposed to be in the final phase of the negotiation process. Jagdeo did not give insight into what those negotiations might be or the terms that the businessman might be seeking.
The Guyana Marriott Hotel is owned by the special purpose company Atlantic Hotel Inc (AHI) in which NICIL is the sole shareholder.
During a second round of bidding, X, LLC – an American investment group founded by El-Batrawi – was one of two companies that responded to NICIL’s invite in May to resubmit bids with a base price of US$85M for the sale of the Marriott Hotel in Guyana.
Upping his previous bid by US$25M, El-Batrawi emerged as the top bidder following NICIL’s evaluation.
The other bidder was Integrated Group Guyana Inc which had proposed US$86.1M.
The Government of Guyana had publicly rejected the first round of bids. It held the view that all six bids submitted for NICIL’s shares in AHI for the acquisition of the Guyana Marriott Hotel came in at a figure that was not acceptable. X, LLC in the previous round of bidding had tendered the highest bid at US$65 million while Integrated Management Group – which runs the Palm Court – bid US$55 million.
NICIL had confirmed that on May 2, the six bidders were contacted and advised that their submitted bids had been rejected. At that point, the six bidders were invited to resubmit new bids with a minimum bid price of no less than US$85 million. The deadline for submission was on May 16, 2023.
The public was not told of the request to bidders to submit new bids and no official announcement was made on the fate of the bids. In the invitation for new bids, NICIL provided a listing of assets, liabilities, and payables and explained what was expected in each category on the sale of the hotel. It listed cash on hand and at the bank as $4.6 billion. A subordinated loan was listed as $3 billion and deferred income at $3.2 billion. The related parties’ liability due to the parent company was $4.4 billion.
NICIL stated that cash on hand and at the bank will be used to settle working capital advances of $95.3 million due to the parent company of the hotel and an amount due to SCG International (Trinidad and Tobago Limited) of $261.1 million as construction costs. The cash and bank balance after the settlement of these liabilities will remain with the company for the benefit of the company after the sale and transfer of the shares.
The related parties liability due to the parent company, NICIL explained, will remain with the company for settlement by the company after the sale and transfer of shares. The subordinated loan will also be assumed by the parent company.
