Wednesday, 21 December 2011
Mikhail Shishkhanov, the head of Russian B&N Bank, may buy the Hotel National, a landmark hotel in the heart of Moscow, when the city auctions the property on Thursday, Vedomosti business daily reported on Wednesday, quoting sources close to the auction.
The starting price in the auction for 100 percent interest in the 200-room hotel is 4.58 billion rubles (about $143 million), with a bidding increment of 91.6 million rubles. The other bidder whose name was not disclosed is regarded as a technical participant to make the auction valid.
Hotel National is operated by Starwood Hotels & Resorts under The Luxury Collection brand name.
If Shishkhanov wins the auction, he will become the owner of a second major property near the Kremlin. He previously bought 49 percent of Dekmos firm, which owns Hotel Moskva in the center of Moscow. He also holds 95 percent of Inteko, the real estate firm bought from Yelena Baturina, the wife of former Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov.
S.A.Ricci managing partner Vladimir Avdeyev told Vedomosti that Shishkyanov might bring in Four Seasons to operate both Hotel National and Hotel Moskva.
Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin, who replaced Luzhkov last October, has inherited a $5 billion budget deficit and has initiated a massive privatization of municipal property, starting with the sale of a 46% stake in Bank of Moscow, which was acquired by state-run VTB bank in February. |
Wednesday, 21 December 2011
Ria Novosti
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