Foreign Property News | Posted by Hnin Ei Khin
Morocco is counting on Alfred Hitchcock and Winston Churchill to help it raise money.
The government plans next year to sell a 51-percent stake in La Mamounia Hotel, a former Marrakesh palace-turned-five-star hotel that has, for decades, welcomed leaders such as Charles de Gaulle, as well as Hollywood elite, according to two people familiar with the plan.
They declined to be identified because the sale has yet to be formally approved by the cash-strapped kingdom’s cabinet.
The government is expected to fix a minimum price and invite bids sometime in 2019, one of the people familiar with the plan said.
The majority stake is currently held by the state railways monopoly, while minority shareholders include the state-controlled investment management fund, Caisse de Depot et de Gestion (CDG), and Marrakesh’s city council.
The hotel has long been a profitable business, but had stopped distributing dividends to shareholders for eight to 10 years through 2017, mainly because of the repayment of loans obtained to fund a major overhaul, Marrakesh Mayor Mohamed Larbi Belkaid said in a telephone interview.
"This is an iconic historic landmark for Marrakesh and for the global hotel industry," he said.
La Mamounia, which was listed in February 2018 as one of the “7 Most Historically Significant Hotels in the World” by interior design magazine Architectural Digest, has a storied past.
The Art Deco palace was a favorite of Churchill’s, who, the magazine said, once described it to Franklin Roosevelt as “one of the most beautiful places in the world.”
Rooms at the hotel can run from around 600 euros ($684) per night, while suites can climb to around 5,530 euros nightly.
Ref: Property Report
