Two companies are bidding for the Palace Hotel Guam.
Sources told the Journal Ken Corp. is definitely one of the interested bidders vying to buy the Palace hotel. Were the deal to go through an industry expert said Ken Corp. would end up with 14% of the room inventory on Guam.
Sources also told the Journal that Ken Corp. has put down a deposit of earnest money on a firm bid of $20 million after completion of due diligence. An appraisal is being undertaken by the Captain Co. The sources said a second buyer is in the wings and "another offer is on the table." The sale has been negotiated directly between Ken Corp. and Triskeles Holdings Ltd. (See "Palace Hotel under sale deadline" in the Oct. 3 2005 edition of the Journal.) the owner of the Palace with no realtors involved in the deal.
Triskeles acquired the Palace Hotel late 2005. Triskeles owns hotels in North America Malaysia and Indonesia and has holdings in paper products industry.
W. Nicholas Captain president of the Captain Co. told the Journal the property consists of 12.9 acres of land. It has 403 rooms with spaces for restaurants and offices. There are two pools three tennis courts and one wedding chapel. For government tax purposes the property was appraised at $55 370 000 for the 2005 tax year.
The Journal contacted Ken Yanagisawa director for InterPacific Resorts Corp. and Ken Corp.’s Guam representative He decline to comment on the deal. He said "It is too early to say anything. Nothing has been finalized."
If the sale goes through it would be the third hotel sale since April. The Hotel Santa Fe was reported close to being sold to Ken Corp. for $3.2 million (See "Santa Fe Shuffle; Ken Corp. offering $3.2 million to Lehman Bros." in the April 17 edition of the Journal.) and the Inn on the Bay was sold for $3 million to Balboa Asian Investments (See "Investors buy in" in the May 1 edition of the Journal.)
Ken Corp. is no stranger to the hospitality market in the Mariana Islands. It partnered with Orix a large leasing and financial company and acquired Pacific Islands Club Guam on June 1 2005. The Company also acquired the 91-room Aqua Resort Saipan from Mac-Home Tokyo Co. Ltd. in August 2004 (See the Deloitte & Touche Guam Business "Top 40 Companies in Micronesia" in the Fourth Quarter 2005 issue of Guam Business.). Yanagisawa has an office at PIC.
Kensuke Tanaka established Ken Corp. in December 1972. The company has capitol totaling $380 million and has four affiliate companies.
In addition to the sale of the Palace there was reportedly an April 30 deadline for the sale of Marriott Guam Resort & Spa. The Marriott became available after the Republic of Nauru (Guam) Inc. was unable to meet payments on its mortgage of the hotel defaulting on loans (See "Marriott Guam resorting to change; buyer in the wings" in the Sept. 20 2004 edition of the Journal.) The Journal contacted Scott Sibley general manager of the Marriott but he could not comment on the deadline.
"" Maureen N. Maratita contributed to this story
