Temenos Sale - was this really a good deal?

Thoughts on the recent Temenos Auction in Anguilla
By: Paul Weimer
 
June 28, 2011 - PRLog -- 28 June 2011

The Twitter message definitely puzzled us a bit –

“Temenos Resort auction I conducted yesterday in Anguilla went well.  It brought US$15mm.  Two more in the pipeline”, Tweeted the auctioneer in charge.  

Went well?  Ouch.   Not so sure the lenders who invested $180mm in the project and have now apparently lost 92% of their investment would agree that this auction went well.  8 cents on the dollar?   And that’s after a complete write-off of the $180mm that prior owner Robert Sillerman reportedly had invested in addition to the debt.  

$15mm for all of Temenos?  Aren’t there single residences on a mere few acres of land that have traded for higher prices in Anguilla?  
This transaction seemed to immediately qualify as the Caribbean deal of the century; almost making Starwood Capital’s attractive purchase of the nearby Viceroy Resort seem like it was overpriced (which it wasn’t, in our opinion).

Must be something wrong here with the headline, we thought.  Maybe it was $15mm for only a portion of the resort?  Or maybe the new buyer, who happens to own the neighboring CuisinArt Resort & Spa, assumed a large portion of debt?  We decided to keep reading, eager to find the “catch”.      

But further reading only seemed to confirm that the entire property was sold for a relative pittance – including, approximately 275-acres of land; 4,500 feet of beach frontage; the only golf course on the island; and 59 “substantially completed” luxury residential villas.  

Even accounting for the fact that a large portion of this large is on a long term (125-year) lease from the government and that there are restrictions in the planning permission, this is clearly a bargain price.

Congratulations to Mr. Rizzuto for apparently being the only real buyer who showed up for the auction.

Paul Weimer
Managing Director
MacLellan International Brokers, LLC
www.maclellanbrokers.com
(305) 537-7037
End
Source:Paul Weimer
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Tags:Caribbean, Anguilla, Resort, Real Estate, Hospitality, Resort Real Estate
Industry:Tourism, Real Estate, Financial
Location:Saint Lucia
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