By ANNE GIBSON
David Henderson's Kitchener Group has put his Hilton Auckland hotel up for sale and industry experts are predicting it will fetch up to $60 million, making it one of the largest deals this year.
Geordie Clark of Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels in Sydney announced yesterday that expressions of interest
in the Princes Wharf hotel were being called for, closing next month.
Clark said the 166-room hotel, which opened in July 2001, had a 76 per cent occupancy, well ahead of most other new hotels, which were only 50 to 60 per cent occupied in the first year.
Clark said Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels sold hotels worth about US$1.4 billion in the last two years, including the Hilton at Sydney Airport for A$30 million and a Brisbane Hilton hotel with other buildings for about A$150 million.
In 2000, Hilton International declined to take up an option to buy the hotel from Kitchener. Hilton International, a subsidiary of London-based Hilton Group, manages the hotel under a 15-year contract.
Also in 2000, Kitchener Group sold $12.7 million worth of junk bonds to help fund the hotel, promising a 7 per cent annual return.
The bonds were sold on a three-year and five-year term. The prospectus said the three-year bonds were due to be repaid on February 28 this year.
