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buying AHC John Keells to sell TransAsia? "That would be a wise move if JKH decides to sell TransAsia. They could raise about Rs 2.5 billion from here and would then have spent only Rs 1.5 billion on acquiring Sri Lanka's best property," said a private sector economist who follows trends in the hotel industry. Hotel industry sources said they believed Ong Deng Seng, a billionaire Singapore investor who has a sizable stake in TransAsia Hotel, is keen on taking over the hotel and would be prepared to take a controlling interest in the property. Mr. Seng has a chain of hotels and leisure properties across the world including Planet Hollywood and wants to raise his stake in Sri Lanka. The TransAsia Hotel is managed by a management company owned by Adrian Zecha, the Singaporean-based hotelier whose Aman Resorts is also involved in some Sri Lankan hotel properties being finalised. Mr. Zecha's son owns a boutique hotel in Bentota. John Keells chairman Vivendra Lintotawela was not available for comment yesterday but on Friday he told The Sunday Times that the investment was essentially due to good prospects for tourism arising from the peace process. He said he was taking over chairmanship of the AHC and JKH would shortly announce a mandatory offer to buy other shares in AHC. He said they have not considered any major changes as yet. John Keells is the country's largest hotelier and has a total of some 3,000 hotel rooms - inclusive of the Colombo Plaza and TransAsia - in Sri Lanka and the Maldives. It was unclear why AHC chairman Azmi Wan Hamza, a Malaysian businessman and the biggest shareholder in the company, and David Watts who both purchased a controlling stake in Asian Hotels in the early to mid 1990s, would sell out their stock (among other investors) particularly now when Malaysian businessmen are showing interest in Sri Lanka. Some analysts said however that Mr. Hamza has been looking for a good price to sell off his stock and doesn't have any major business involvements in Malaysia now after losing heavily from the fallout of the September 11 disaster in the United States. The reclusive businessman lives in London. The John Keells move is also likely to see a bigger involvement of Singaporean businessmen apart from Mr. Seng, Mr. Zecha and K.P. Ho, chairman of the Banyan Tree hotels and Angsana Spa and Club which is setting up a spa and club at the Colombo Plaza in addition to reviving a similar project with John Keells at Ahungala near Bentota. |
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