KEY POINTS:
The Four Seasons, a luxury hotel chain based in Canada, has agreed to a US$3.8 billion ($5.55 billion) buy-out offer by its chief executive officer, Isadore Sharp, in partnership with Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia and the chairman of Microsoft, Bill Gates.
Under a compensation package agreed in 1999, Sharp stands to earn US$289 million from the transaction, which remains subject to a two-thirds favourable vote by shareholders at a special meeting expected in April.
The chain remains one of the world's biggest luxury hotel operators. It is not related to the venerable Four Seasons restaurant favoured by power-brokers and wheeler-dealers in Manhattan, however.
The slightly surprising pairing of Gates with Saudi royalty can be traced back to a dinner hosted by the Microsoft founder at his home in Bellevue in Washington state in early 2004 at which Prince Alwaleed was a guest.
