quote:

Proposed Marriott Hotel…Gov’t secures private investors ahead of taxpayers $$$

March 18, 2012 | By KNews | Filed Under News 

 

…Republic Bank (Trinidad), others to be major shareholders

The financing structure for the proposed Marriott-branded hotel locks in private investors for a return of their dollars but taxpayers money risk being washed away if the ambitious project fails.
Finance and industry sources say the project is a high risk one, given that existing hotels are struggling to fill their rooms, but government is pressing ahead and could end up putting US$21 million ($4.2 billion) into the project.
But the plan to get the total financing required for the project includes arrangements that could see the government being unable to recover its money ahead of investors in a scenario where the project is doomed and left in the red.
This could be deduced from explanations offered by Minister of Finance Dr. Ashni Singh in response to several questions raised by Khemraj Ramjattan, lead Parliamentarian for the Alliance for Change.
The arrangement for financing, as announced by Dr. Singh, includes “senior debt” syndicated by Republic Bank (Trinidad and Tobago) of US$27 million.

An artist’s impression of what the Guyana Marriott would look like.

A syndicated loan is one that is provided by a group of lenders and is structured, arranged and administered by one or several commercial banks or investment banks. In this case, the loan is being administered by the Republic Bank (Trinidad and Tobago Limited) but the government has not named the other lenders.
By agreeing to this type of loan arrangement, the government is agreeing for the investors who are part of the syndicate, to get back their investment first ahead of any other investor in the project.
So, if in a scenario where the project fails and the value of the property depreciates to a value below what the investors have plugged, then the investors will get back their money, and there would be nothing to return to NICIL, meaning that taxpayers’ dollars would go down the drain.
As the project develops and the government struggles to find investors, the government, with taxpayers’ money, will become the largest investor in the project.
The Minister of Finance announced that the government will participate in the project, by way of equity, in the sum of US$4 million. This will be committed by National Industrial Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), the investment arm of the government which holds its assets.
The equity contribution determines the government’s strength in Atlantic Hotels Incorporated – the company created to see the project through. As it stands, the government is currently the sole shareholder in the company.
However, apart from the equity contribution, financing for the project would also come from “subordinate loan stocks” of US$15 million invested by NICIL.
Adding the US$2 million NICIL will end up spending in development costs for the project, including design and other preliminary studies altogether, NICIL will be putting US$21 million into the project.
Apart from the “senior debt” and the money envisaged by NICIL, the government is looking for an investor or a group of investors who will put another US$8 million into the project.
Once one or more private investors are selected, the party/parties will need to be approved by Marriott and Republic Bank, given that the 67 per cent shareholder will be deemed to be the majority partner.
Additionally, the project finance also takes into account US$4 million that will be used to set up the entertainment complex that will come with the hotel. This cost is expected to be met by the operators of the complex, such as operators of the casino, nightclub and restaurants.
Dr. Singh said that there is no government guarantee to any financial institution for the project.
He said that NICIL and the majority shareholder(s) will have to stand behind certain risks – cost overruns and any debt service shortfall until certain debt service ratios are achieved.
However, a financial expert told Kaieteur News that it does not seem plausible that Republic Bank would want to throw its money in the project without any security.
“There must be some side agreement to this,” the expert told Kaieteur News, reasoning that if one were to go to the same Republic Bank and ask for a loan to invest in the project, it is hardly likely that the bank will respond positively.
The pessimism about the feasibility of the project stems from the fact that many of the country’s hotels concentrated in and around the capital and built for Cricket World Cup 2007, are operating on less than favourable occupancy rates.
The Finance Minister said that there was a market feasibility study conducted by the Marriott Hotel Group and one conducted in 2010 by an independent American firm which is being updated for 2012.
The American firm was not named, nor was the study by Marriott released.
He said that there is also a draft Environmental and Social Impact report which is awaiting final issuance by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
“These documents are confidential at this time; however, the government is willing to have a closed door presentation that will allow certain details of these documents to be made available under the condition of utmost confidentiality and discussed with key parliamentary opposition members without these documents being made public,” Dr. Singh stated in his response to the National Assembly.
The government, under Atlantic Hotels Inc. has entered into a contract with S.C.G International of Trinidad (a subsidiary of Shanghai Construction Group, China) to construct the hotel.
The Marriott Hotel group, through one of its subsidiaries will manage the hotel in accordance with standard Marriott rates per annum. The management fee would be a percentage of gross revenue with an incentive fee being a percentage of operating profit as well as other fees based on services.
Dr. Singh said that the actual percentages cannot be disclosed because of confidentiality issues.

 

I don't see the reason for this especially when Guyana doesn't even have a sufficient tourist industry at the moment.The GoG is reported to only have a 33% equity in the project.