Debt Due-Date Looms for Kerzner

Kerzner International Resorts Inc., owner of several high-end vacation spots, including the sprawling Atlantis resort in the Bahamas, has tapped a cadre of restructuring advisers to help rework nearly $3 billion in debt ahead of a looming repayment deadline later this year.

Kerzner recently enlisted advisers at law firm Kirkland & Ellis LLP, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Blackstone Group LP to determine how to restructure the debt, according to people familiar with the matter. About $2.6 billion of the debt, in the form of a senior mortgage, comes due in September.

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More NCAA Basketball for Atlantis

OVER a year of lobbying and the hosting of a landmark basketball event in the country has led to the Bahamas being granted exempt status by the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
 
The NCAA's Division I Board of Directors approved the Bahamas' proposal last weekend and the legislation will go into effect, August 1.
 
The newly awarded exempt status will give the Bahamas the authority to host a tournament which will count towards a team's 30 game schedule.
 
According to George Markantonis, President and Managing Director of Kerzner International Bahamas, tentative plans to host the tournament are scheduled for the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend, November 23-27.

Lofty expectations loom for the revamped and expanded "Battle At Atlantis" which organisers hope to eventually challenge the NCAA's most well known tournament outside the continental United States, the EA Sports Maui Invitational.

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Kerzner upset with Baha Mar hotel deal

Kerzner International executives and the Prime Minister are remaining tightlipped for the time being on the outcome of a meeting recently held between Atlantis owner, Sir Sol Kerzner, and Mr Ingraham in which the hotelier's concerns about the $2.6 billion Baha Mar development were discussed.
 
Confirming that a "closed door" meeting did take place recently between Mr Ingraham and Sir Sol, senior vice-president of public affairs for Kerzner International (Bahamas), Ed Fields, said the company had no comment it could offer on the outcome at this time.

Meanwhile, pressed about the result of the Sir Sol meeting and the Government's response to his concerns over the Baha Mar project - including the alleged breach of contract perpetrated by the Government through giving the Baha Mar developer a "more favourable" agreement than Kerzner International got when building Atlantis - the Prime Minister told this newspaper on Wednesday: "Stay tuned!".

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NCAA weighing exemption status for the Bahamas

VIRGINIA Tech coach Seth Greenberg has tried to get his team as much exposure as he can, taking the Hokies to places like Cancun, Puerto Rico and Alaska. None of those destinations compared to what he experienced in a doubleheader held in a ballroom at a Bahamas resort that once hosted the Miss Universe Pageant.

 "Every single aspect of our experience was positive, from the locker rooms to the practice facility to the reception to the actual game experience," Greenberg said.

"Their attention to detail was second to none." The Battle at Atlantis made its debut this past weekend with Greenberg's Hokies facing Mississippi State and Georgia Tech against Richmond.

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Woman claims husband died due to Atlantis employees' negligence

A WIDOW has filed a wrongful death suit in a Florida court against Kerzner International alleging that her husband died because of negligence of employees at the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island.
Toni Lynn Bell claims that her husband - who was having heart attack symptoms - waited nearly an hour for an ambulance to arrive after a desk clerk promised that a doctor was on the way to the couple's aid. She also alleges that the hotel's assistant manager impersonated a doctor when he came to her room about 45 minutes after she called the front desk for emergency help because her husband appeared to be having a heart attack.

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SOL Kerzner hits out on Baha Mar

Says Baha Mar deal violates agreements made with his company

The proposed deal between the Government of The Bahamas and Baha Mar violates previous agreements between the government and Kerzner International, charged Sir Sol Kerzner yesterday.

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Kerzner rumours still swirl

Despite Kerzner International's adamant denial last week that the Atlantis and One & Only Ocean Club Owner is not for sale, rumours and speculation continue to swirl, with claims being made to this newspaper that other suitors are also interested.
Apart from BMB Group, a firm with connections to the Brunei Royal Family, making an unsolicited $3.4 billion all-cash bid that was rejected, one message sent to Tribune Business last night suggested that other parties potentially interested in Kerzner International included the Qatar Investment Authority, billionaire Las Vegas developer Steve Wynn and China Investment Corp, another Chinese government-owned entity.

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KERZNER NOT FOR SALE

(Hospitality Business News)  The investment firm BMB Group said Thursday it has offered to buy resort developer Kerzner International Holdings for $3.4 billion in cash. Kerzner is a private Bahamas-based company owned by hotel magnate Sol Kerzner and others. It struggled in the past few years as the weak global economy hobbled the hotel and resort industry worldwide. It laid off hundreds of employees at its Atlantis resort in the Bahamas and is undergoing debt restructuring.
 
Kerzner spokeswoman Jennifer Glaisek confirmed in an e-mail that the company received the unsolicited letter from BMB. "But Kerzner is not for sale," she said.
 
BMB believes the company's resort properties have "significant potential," especially in Asia and it supports Kerzner's Atlantis resort in Dubai. BMB said it's unlikely it will keep Kerzner's casino assets for the long term. BMB is an investment and advisory firm with high net-worth clients, including ruling families and sovereign investors from the Middle East and Asia.

BMB Says It Bid $4 Billion for Atlantis Resort Owner Kerzner

BMB Group, a firm representing Malaysian investors, offered to pay as much as $4 billion for Kerzner International Holdings Ltd., the hotel and casino company that built Atlantis in the Bahamas and Dubai, said BMB founder Rayo Withanage.

The firm’s BMB Advisors Malaysia Ltd. unit sent a letter on Oct. 11 to Sol Kerzner, founder of Kerzner International, offering to pay $3.4 billion to $4 billion for his Bahamas-based company, according to a copy obtained by Bloomberg News.

BMB clients in Malaysia are putting up cash for the bid, Withanage said in a telephone interview from New York. They are attracted by the Atlantis properties, he said.

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Atlantis postphones phase 4 until Cable Beach Project complete

KERZNER International will not consider moving forward with its Paradise Island Phase IV expansion plans until the $2.6 billion Baha Mar project comes to a final conclusion, its managing director revealed to Tribune Business yesterday, fearing that the Bahamian resort market would be "over-saturated" if new room inventory was released at the same time.


George Markantonis said Atlantis does not want to saturate the room inventory of Nassau/Paradise Island with its planned Phase IV development, and will therefore await the finalisation of the $2.6 billion Baha Mar development that promises a further 3,500 rooms.

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Atlantis mega-resort courts NCAA basketball and pro-sports games

Virginia Tech, Mississippi State and two other men's college basketball teams have signed on to play Dec. 18 at the Bahamas' giant Atlantis resort in an arrangement that could give the players a free, warm vacation and Atlantis a shot at capturing more sports-related business.

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Dubai World plans to sell Investments in Atlantis and MGM among others

Dubai World plans to sell its prized assets over a period of eight years to generate as much as $19.4-billion (U.S.) to pay off creditors burned by its overambitious expansion, according to a restructuring document obtained by Reuters on Wednesday.

The state-owned conglomerate told creditors at a July 22 meeting, held at Dubai’s lavish Atlantis Hotel, that its capital structure was inappropriate and needed “urgent” restructuring, according to the document handed out at the meeting.

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One of South Africa's top chefs fills Ramsays shoes at One&Only

Riffel - who has gone from eating pig's head as a youngster to feeding well-heeled patrons his signature ginger and caramel pork belly - will replace famed UK chef Gordon Ramsay at Kerzner's One&Only hotel in Cape Town.

Ramsay's Maze restaurant was expelled from the premises following rumours of crisis talks earlier this month.

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Kerzner takes control of Reef Condo Hotel

By Eric Hertha


Kerzner International has bought out its’ JV partner in the Reef condo-hotel project at Atlantis, Paradise Island. Kerzner’s partner in the $200 million project was Turnberry Associates.

Turnberry Associates, of south Florida, is a real estate firm involved in shopping centers and hotels. See related stories (http://www.hospitalitybusinessnews.com/search/label/Fontainebleau) . Turnberry’s 2 Fontainebleau sites have been under financial pressure of late with the Fontainebleu Las Vegas filing for bankruptcy protection in 2009.

Both Kerzner and Turnberry have used investments from Dubai World to fund projects. It is not known if Dubai’s financial problems have lead to this or if it is a result of the down real estate market in Florida and Las Vegas.

Ed Fields, Kerzner International (Bahamas) spokesman said “ I can confirm we have purchased Turnberry’s share of the joint venture at the reef. The reason we did it is because we see it as an excellent investment opportunity.”

Atlantis Phase 4, Baha Mar can't go up at same time

While a fourth phase of the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island and the Baha Mar project on Cable Beach may coexist years down the road, The Bahamas cannot sustain constructing them at the same time, according to Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham.

"The Bahamas needs a major project," said Ingraham during a news conference at the Free National Movement Headquarters on Sunday. "Baha Mar would be a major project, so would Atlantis Phase Four be a major project.

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Kerzner International hires Blackstone to address debt maturity in paradise lost

In 2006, a consortium of investors including Dubai World, a Goldman Sachs fund and Colony Capital raised USD 3.2bn to take Kerzner International private. That CMBS debt falls due in September, and with no clear avenue for refinancing, the Bahamas-based empire of luxury resorts has hired Blackstone Group for advice, two financial advisors and a real estate investor told Debtwire.

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Kerzner plans $100m worth of PI upgrades

Kerzner International will this year begin a $100 million project to renovate its existing Paradise Island properties, which include Atlantis and the One & Only Ocean Club, a move that is set to create some 400 jobs.


It is unclear whether those posts are permanent or temporary, although sources familiar with the situation told Tribune Business they could be permanent, full-time jobs. Regardless, the move is likely to be seen as a shot of much-needed confidence for the Bahamian economy, providing immediate work for the construction industry.

Approvals for the renovations have been obtained from the Government, it is understood, with one source telling Tribune Business: "Kerzner is going to do $100 million worth of stuff on Paradise Island, with some of the work to start this year."

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$1 million legal win for Atlantis

A three-year legal battle between the Atlantis resort and a self-confessed gambling addict may finally be ending, with an Australian court ordering the gambler to pay $1 million in gaming debt owed.

It's money Harry Kakavas racked up in loans from the casino nearly four years ago while on his honeymoon at the resort. The property developer tried to skate on his debt to the casino, alleging that the resort was aware of his gambling addiction and that it took advantage of that.

However, a justice in the Supreme Court decided that Atlantis had done its due diligence in searching Kakavas' credit history and that there were no conditions the resort would have been aware that affected his judgment and control over his gambling activities.

In a five-hour time span, Kakavas reportedly lost the full $1 million at a baccarat table in the Paradise Island casino.

Atlantis officials yesterday declined to comment on the matter.

This week's judgment, however, comes as the casino looks to further establish itself as the location of one of the largest poker tournaments in the world. The resort hosted the annual PokerStars Caribbean Adventure this year and has already booked the tournament for the next two years.

Atlantis puts ban on teens

UNACCOMPANIED youths are to be barred from all areas of Atlantis, resort chiefs said yesterday.

Announcing a clampdown in the wake of Saturday's double shooting, bosses at the resort also condemned irresponsible parents for using Atlantis as a "teen sitting service".

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Sol Kerzner still planning casino for London's O2 Arena

Sol Kerzner, the casino magnate, is hoping to revive his £200m plan to build a super-casino and hotel at the site of London's former Millennium Dome.

The 74-year-old South African made the disclosure as he prepared for Saturday's gala opening of Mazagan Beach Resort, 90km outside Casablanca, Morocco, where snake-charmers and belly dancers are set to mingle with celebrities including Naomi Campbell, Lindsay Lohan, Naomi Watts and Simon and Yasmin Le Bon.

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