3 top corporates show interest in Hilton
Three top Sri Lankan corporates, two representing the garment sector and one in tea – have shown interest in a stake at state owned Hotel Developers PLC, the owning company of Colombo Hilton, officials said. They said that while officially these three companies haven’t expressed interest to the Ministry of Public Development which is to issue bids for the three state hotels including Hilton, Grand Hyatt and Grand Oriental, they have made references to it. The plans are to either totally or partially divest them.
The few unsolicited proposals pertaining to the three hotels are actively being discussed and the parties were told to go through the process when the Ministry calls for bids. The Ministry is now in the process of restructuring key State Owned Enterprises (SOEs). While part of the Colombo Hilton is now being refurbished, the Grand Hyatt, located on Galle Road opposite Temple Trees which began in 2008 as a 475 room, 42 story development ran into trouble when as Ceylinco Celestial Residencies this was stopped after Ceylinco faced financial difficulties. The company was re-launched by Sinolanka in 2011.