Isle de France Sold

[GayleR]

Shocked to read this:
http://hotelnewsresource.mobi/?p=72998

 

[KevinS]

Interesting news. Thanks for the tip Gayle.

So, with LVMH as the new owner, will my VC polo get me a preferred table at La(s - sic) Case de L'Isle, or will my history and prior relationships still hold? Time will tell.. I do expect that there will be some changes in the wine list, LOL.

 

[JEK]

Looks like the majority partner flipped it.
[h=1]Hotel Saint-Barth Isle De France Sold to LVMH[/h]LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton today announced that it has acquired Hotel Saint-Barth Isle de France from majority owner Adventurous Journeys Capital Partners (AJ Capital Partners) and others. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

 

[GayleR]

Is this the first huge corporate take over we've seen on the island?

 

[MIke R]

All part of the process

 

[GayleR]

Noooooooooo!

 

[MIke R]

Sorry ....but yes

A blind man can even see it
One small small step at a time

 

[JEK]

Is this the first huge corporate take over we've seen on the island?

All the big hotels are owned by large off-shore groups. I don't think Le Toiny is a mom and pop business, or David Matthews doesn't have partners.

 

[KevinS]

Taiwana?

 

[MIke R]

Auberge is going Mariott

 

[GayleR]

Le Toiny’s original owners, Michael Chen from Korea and Raymond Balsen of France, sold the property in 2006 to a group of six investors based in Australia and Austin, TX.

 

[KevinS]

The Austin investor was (rumored to be) Lance Armstrong.

 

[elgreaux]

The Austin investor was (rumored to be) Lance Armstrong.

As part of a group not a sole investor. But the isle de France sale doesn't surprise. Most financial groups don't really want to be in the hotel business. And they have a good hotel management company in place since last year. Probably the last piece needed for such a sale.

 

[JEK]

Aj Capital is mostly hotel holdings, but as VCs they need to flip the nickel when the time is right.

http://www.ajcapitalpartners.com

 

[cassidain]

Aj Capital is mostly hotel holdings, but as VCs they need to flip the nickel when the time is right.

http://www.ajcapitalpartners.com

Short-term holding as they acquired majority ownership in 2010.

 

[didier]

thanks gayle, the hotel should still remain the same with charlie and mandie still there.

 

[NYCFred]

All part of the process

+1...

 

[cassidain]

All part of the process

Here's a quote concerning L'Isle de France from one of the savviest guys around:

No major changes that we have seen, and most of the staff is still there in their original job functions. I suspect there will be subtle improvements over the next couple of years, but IDF has always been well run and well maintained, and with Charlie and Mandie still very much involved, I don't see that changing.


Phil

This was referring to the property since the management change to Oetker. It doesn't seem that in the context of five star de luxe properties these changes we're discussing are going to materially affect the nature of the island. ÀMHA.

 

[JimB]

Cassadain (M. Un Peu de Français),

It appears that you just taught me a little French. I hadn't been aware of the expression amha, but I see that it stands for à mon humble avis. I think that the h in humble is an h muet. So, the n in mon is pronounced [mɔ̃nœ̃bl], n'est-ce pas? Another question - I see that you use the accent grave over the capital A. Aren't accents put over capitals almost exclusively for artistic typographic effect?

 

[cassidain]

thanks gayle, the hotel should still remain the same with charlie and mandie still there.

L'établissement [L'Isle de France] avait signé un contrat de gestion de quinze ans en octobre 2012 avec Oetker Collection. Didier Le Calvez, directeur général du Bristol et vice-président de la collection s'est déclaré déçu de ce rachat, "parce que les délais étaient trop courts pour faire une contreproposition". Il a néanmoins rappelé sa fierté d'avoir contribué à l'amélioration des performances de cet établissement avec des résultats financiers en hausse de 50 % sur un an. "Nous sommes très fiers d'avoir été associés à cet hôtel, nous remercions vivement les employés et la commune de Saint-Barthélémy, et nous souhaitons bonne chance à nos collègues", a-t-il ajouté. Rien n'est perdu toutefois et le directeur général du Bristol se dit confiant dans la possibilité de reprendre en gestion, dès la fin de l'année, un autre établissement dans les Caraïbes, si possible à Saint-Barthélemy, considérée comme"la perle des Caraïbes et le meilleur emplacement sans doute pour nous". La collection Oetker, qui vient d'annoncer l'arrivée du Fregate Island au Seychelles, conserve donc sept établissements.

I'm not sure that Charlie and Mandie will still be there??? Another minority shareholder (Oetker) who had just taken an interest in 2012 and signed a 15 year management contract with AJ Capital Partners is out with this deal and looking for a new Saint-Barth property for their collection to replace the loss of L'Isle de France. LVMH has their own hotel management team. À suivre...