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Four Seasons selling for $3.8 billion to buyers that include Saudi prince
Toronto-based Four Seasons Hotels Inc. agreed earlier this week to sell the luxury hotel chain for $3.8 billion to Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and investment companies owned by two families, including a Saudi prince.
One of the prospective buyers is Cascade Investment LLC, which is owned by Mr Gates.
Another buyer is Kingdom Hotels International, a trust created for Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud and his family.
The third buyer is Triples Holdings Ltd., a holding company owned by the family of Four Seasons Chairman and CEO Isadore Sharp.
If the deal is completed, Mr Sharp would get about $289 million under the terms of a long-term incentive agreement adopted in 1989, said Four Seasons in a press release.
The transaction was approved unanimously by the board, the company said.
Four Seasons shareholders must approve the deal in a special meeting that is expected to take place in April, the company said. The transaction is also subject to regulatory review.
Prince Alwaleed’s Kingdom Hotels International and Gates’ Cascade Investment LLC, last year offered $82 in cash for each limited voting share, a bid that values Four Seasons at $3.8 billion including debt, the company said.
The equity portion of the deal is valued at $3.37 billion, based on 41.1 million outstanding limited and variable multiple voting shares. Prince Alwaleed already has a 23% stake in Four Seasons, while Cascade has 8.2% of the company.
“Given the recent trading activity, we believe some investors may be disappointed. However we believe this offer is good value,” UBS analyst William Truelove said in a research note.
This is the Saudi billionaire’s second venture into the Canadian hotel segment since 2005. In January 2006, his Kingdom Hotels joined forces with a US investment group to buy another luxury chain, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, for $3.9 billion, according to Reuters.
If the deal goes through, founder, chairman and chief executive Isadore Sharp and his family holding company, Triples Holdings Ltd., will have a 10% stake of the hotel chain, with the remaining shares split equally between Kingdom and Cascade.
Founded in 1960, Four Seasons currently has 74 hotels in 31 countries, and more than 25 properties under development.
Report by David Wilkening
David
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