CP Group tipped to be Hyatt Hotel's buyer

CP Group are tipped to be the buyers for the Auckland Hyatt Regency Hotel. Photo / Sarah Ivey

Interests associated with CP Group, the multimillionaire private Auckland family business, are tipped to be the buyers for the Auckland Hyatt Regency Hotel.

Property experts in Auckland say Charles Pandey is the buyer and his son Prakash is central to running the large business.

But CP's solicitor, Grahame Fong, yesterday responded guardedly.

"I could not possibly comment. If we were the party, Prakash [Pandey] and I, being the senior people in the organisation, would have signed a very tight confidentiality contract. If we were not the parties, we would not be commenting either."

Last month, receivers of South Canterbury Finance said a deal was struck to sell the Hyatt but they were bound by a confidentiality agreement and could not give any information about the transaction.

The Hyatt owes SCF millions and any repayment will be welcome to receivers and the Government, which paid out investors.

Hyatt staff were told the hotel was sold but not the name of the buyer.

The Australian Financial Review reported the hotel was sold to a New Zealand-based investor, rumoured to be Charles Pandey.

Fong said yesterday the group was private and rarely made public comments but he acknowledged it owned properties in New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, India and Fiji.

In 2008, CP Group was reported as having a hotel portfolio worth well over $200 million. It owns the historic Dingwall Building at 87-93 Queen St and has its offices on level seven.

Other Auckland properties are Hotel Formula 1 (formerly the Columbard), Mercure Hotel Auckland, Mercure Hotel Windsor, All Seasons Ellerslie Motor Inn, All Seasons Remuera, Base Backpackers Auckland and Fat Camel Hostel and Bar.

CP also has the Mercure Hotel Wellington, Mercure Hotel Willis St (also in Wellington), Mercure Hotel Dunedin and, in Fiji, Novotel in Nadi and Novotel in Suva.

French-owned Accor Group, which already manages 28 hotels in this country including many of CP's properties, is tipped to manage the Hyatt. Accor's New Zealand vice-president Paul Richardson said Accor would like to be considered to manage the Hyatt.

Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels, which brokered the Hyatt deal, says the hotel sold for close to $60 million.