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Sat, Feb 11 2012
Greeks look to check into Sheraton Sofia
The Greek Latsis Group has expressed an interest in buying the 67 per cent majority stake in Sheraton Sofia Hotel Balkan from its current owner, Daewoo Engineering & Construction, stock exchange sources quoted by Pari daily said on Tuesday.
Sheraton's CEO, Sang Ho Bou, confirmed there have been negotiations on the purchase of the share, but did not name the potential buyer. "The negotiations have not yet been finalised and more information will be available in early May," he said.
An extraordinary shareholders meeting is scheduled for May 13, with voting for a new board of directors being the single item on the agenda. The next board will probably include representatives of the Greek EFG Eurobank Ergasias, controlled by the Latsis family.
EFG Eurobank Ergasias is the second private bank group in Greece in terms of size and third at the Athens Stock Exchange in terms of market capitalisation. It is part of the Geneva-based EFG Bank European Financial Group.
EFG Consolidated Holdings SA, a member of EFG Bank Group, holds 44 per cent of the shares. Deutsche Bank holds another 10 per cent and the remaining 46 per cent represent its free float, which is in the hands of about 400,000 individual shareholders.
The Greek bank is already present in Bulgaria, as it bought the Bulgarian Post Bank in 1999 in consortium with Alico.
Banker daily wrote on Monday that part of the investors were afraid that the new owner might not follow Daewoo's policy for distributing the whole profit of the hotel as dividends. Investors in shares made quite a profit because of this policy.
Daewoo acquired Sheraton in 1996 for $22.3 million, but in the past year it has been looking for a new buyer, hoping that the deal would help pay off some of the Korean company's debts. Daewoo has been running a debt workout programme since August 1999.
Last September, the current majority shareholder of Sheraton terminated the sale of the 67 per cent stake to International Hotel Investments (IHI). IHI offered $23.5 million but reportedly failed to pay a deposit by the due date.
IHI is owned by the Maltese Corinthia Group, which is on the so called black list of the US government as it is suspected to be a front for Libyan capital. The group has a total of 21 hotels in Central Europe and the Middle East.
Over the past three months, the weighted average of the Sheraton Hotel stock was 35.30 leva.
Sheraton's CEO, Sang Ho Bou, confirmed there have been negotiations on the purchase of the share, but did not name the potential buyer. "The negotiations have not yet been finalised and more information will be available in early May," he said.
An extraordinary shareholders meeting is scheduled for May 13, with voting for a new board of directors being the single item on the agenda. The next board will probably include representatives of the Greek EFG Eurobank Ergasias, controlled by the Latsis family.
EFG Eurobank Ergasias is the second private bank group in Greece in terms of size and third at the Athens Stock Exchange in terms of market capitalisation. It is part of the Geneva-based EFG Bank European Financial Group.
EFG Consolidated Holdings SA, a member of EFG Bank Group, holds 44 per cent of the shares. Deutsche Bank holds another 10 per cent and the remaining 46 per cent represent its free float, which is in the hands of about 400,000 individual shareholders.
The Greek bank is already present in Bulgaria, as it bought the Bulgarian Post Bank in 1999 in consortium with Alico.
Banker daily wrote on Monday that part of the investors were afraid that the new owner might not follow Daewoo's policy for distributing the whole profit of the hotel as dividends. Investors in shares made quite a profit because of this policy.
Daewoo acquired Sheraton in 1996 for $22.3 million, but in the past year it has been looking for a new buyer, hoping that the deal would help pay off some of the Korean company's debts. Daewoo has been running a debt workout programme since August 1999.
Last September, the current majority shareholder of Sheraton terminated the sale of the 67 per cent stake to International Hotel Investments (IHI). IHI offered $23.5 million but reportedly failed to pay a deposit by the due date.
IHI is owned by the Maltese Corinthia Group, which is on the so called black list of the US government as it is suspected to be a front for Libyan capital. The group has a total of 21 hotels in Central Europe and the Middle East.
Over the past three months, the weighted average of the Sheraton Hotel stock was 35.30 leva.
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