KEY POINTS:
Receivers of failed financier Bridgecorp have called for the sale of a large Napier resort hotel.
Dean Humphries, national director of Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels in Auckland, said 92 units in Te Pania Hotel were on the market.
He got instructions from Bridgecorp's receivers at PricewaterhouseCoopers and said the units were held by a fully owned Bridgecorp subsidiary, Monice Properties.
That company took over ownership of the units after a series of problems with property. Bridgecorp loaned millions for the hotel to be developed but everything went far from according to plan with the failure of the resort's developer, Robert Brown Developments.
Bridgecorp collapsed in July and on December 18, receivers John Waller and Colin McCloy of PricewaterhouseCoopers reduced their estimate of recoveries to secured debenture holders from the 25 to 74 per cent range to 19 to 63 per cent.
Anthony McCullagh and Stephen Lawrence were appointed receivers of Robert Brown Developments after it built the hotel. Their first report on Robert Brown found $10 million was owed to Bridgecorp and a further $11.5 million to Hanover Finance, which had a first-ranking mortgage. Bridgecorp held a second-ranking mortgage.
Humphries said yesterday he was calling for expressions of interest in the hotel by February 29.
He said it was a good time to sell. The hotel had views over the waterfront, national visitor arrivals were increasing and hotels were a popular investment.
The Park Hyatt Sydney had sold recently for a record A$201.6 million which was a landmark deal for this area of the world too, he said.
The sales campaign follows the announcement a year ago that rival agents Colliers International were marketing 96 units. The six-level hotel was then described as a $22 million property.
At the time, developer Robert Brown said the sale of the units would be used to retire debt but did not want to elaborate further. He said his company had its investment in Te Pania Hotel for "too long now" and it was time to move on.
Scenic Circle would continue to manage the hotel until 2012, when it will have the opportunity to renew its 10-year lease for another 20 years, he said at the time.
Humphries said yesterday the hotel had 114 titles but only 109 units because some upper-level suites were interlinked. Monice does not own all the units in the hotel, which is operated by Scenic Circle. Some units were sold to independent owners, many from Hawkes Bay.
