Phuket’s Laguna Beach Resort changes hands
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Laguna Beach Resort, a hotel located in the Laguna Phuket destination resort, will soon undergo a change of ownership. Laguna Hotels & Resorts Plc, the joint owning company of Laguna Beach Resort, has agreed to sell its stake in the hotel to Laguna Phuket Club Co. Ltd, a Thai company controlled by Real Estate Equity Partners (RECAP), for THB723.6 million (US$23.6 million).
Laguna’s joint venture partner in the hotel has also agreed to sell the remaining shares to Laguna Phuket Club Co Ltd, giving RECAP full ownership of the 252-room beachfront property. The deal is expected to be completed in May 2011.
Laguna Beach Resort was the second hotel to be built in Laguna Phuket when it opened in 1992, and is now one of seven hotel and villa properties in the complex.
The operations of Laguna Beach Resort and the Laguna Phuket integrated resort complex will be unaffected by the change of ownership.
RECAP, headed by Chairman Suchad Chiaranussati, also owns the Phuket’s largest retail mall, the Jungceylon shopping complex, as well as Bangkok’s four-tower Millennium Residence development.
The change in Laguna Beach Resort’s ownership comes six months after Laguna sold another hotel, the Dusit Thani Laguna Phuket, to Dusit Thani Plc for THB2.62 billion. Both transactions are in line with Laguna’s strategy of divesting part of its interests in Thailand, to focus on emerging opportunities elsewhere in Asia.
Laguna also recently announced that Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts will take over operations of the Sheraton Grande Laguna Phuket when the current management contract with Starwood Hotels & Resorts expires on 30 June 2011. The property will undergo a five-month THB500 million refurbishment and re-open in December as the Angsana Laguna Phuket.
Michael Ayling, Managing Director of Laguna Resorts & Hotels, said; “These recent developments all reflect our commitment to developing our business in Phuket and elsewhere in the region, without compromising our renowned levels of customer service.”
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