{"id":15681,"date":"2011-11-30T11:08:03","date_gmt":"2011-11-30T16:08:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/?p=15681"},"modified":"2011-11-30T11:12:50","modified_gmt":"2011-11-30T16:12:50","slug":"kerzner-hands-over-the-reins-to-atlantis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/2011\/11\/kerzner-hands-over-the-reins-to-atlantis","title":{"rendered":"Kerzner Hands Over the Reins To Atlantis"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Atlantis
Atlantis Resort<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kerzner International Holdings Ltd., the company that has propped up Bahamas tourism for over a decade, handed ownership of the Atlantis resorts in the Bahamas and Dubai to Brookfield Asset Management as part of a debt restructuring.<\/p>\n

The deal sees Brookfield forgiving $175 million of junior debt for ownership of the Bahamas-based Atlantis Resort and the Bahamas One&Only Ocean Club, as well as a half interest in the One&Only Palmilla in Mexico.<\/p>\n

Kerzner will continue to run Atlantis Resort Paradise Island and the One&Only resorts as a management company. Atlantis the Palm, in Dubai, jointly owned with Dubai World, isn’t affected.<\/p>\n

Atlatnis Resort, with its Mayan-themed water slides, dolphin encounters and huge outdoor aquarium, is the Bahamas’ largest private employer and a major tourist draw.<\/p>\n

Kerzner International has struggled with debt since the 2008 financial crisis cut hotel values and room rates, shortly after Sol Kerzner took the company private in 2006 in a\u00a0 $3.6 billion deal.<\/p>\n

The properties being taken over by Brookfield had about $2.6 billion in debt when negotiations began a year ago. That shrinks to about $2.3 billion, with Brookfield\u2019s forgiveness and an earlier $100 million payment that was part of a previous maturity extension.<\/p>\n

“This transaction will permit Kerzner to move forward as a management company,” Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Sol Kerzner said in the statement. The deal allows “us to get back to doing what we do best – designing and managing world-class destination and luxury resorts under the Atlantis and One&Only brands,” he said.<\/p>\n

Kerzner was advised on the restructuring by Blackstone Group LP (BX), Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Zolfo Cooper, according to a\u00a0 statement released by the company.<\/p>\n

Other holders of Kerzner’s debt included Centerbridge Capital Partners LLC, TPG Capital, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank and Fidelity Investments.<\/p>\n

Mr Kerzner, 76, built the spectacular resort on Paradise Island property he purchased from Merv Griffin, the late talk show host and game show creator. The resort is surrounded by a massive open-air marine habitat with over 50,000 sea creatures and a luxury marina that attracts an international mega-yacht market.<\/p>\n

In 2007, Atlantis added the Reef and the Cove hotels, a new dolphin habitat and expanded the Aquaventure water park in a $1 billion expansion.<\/p>\n

Kerzner also opened a second Atlantis in the Persian Gulf, on the outer frond of Palm Jumeirah, Dubai’s man-made, tree-shaped island.<\/p>\n

Kerzner also runs seven One&Only resorts, with different levels of property ownership. Today’s deal doesn\u2019t impact the other five.<\/p>\n

Brookfield Asset Management is a Toronto-based investment firm that manages about $150 billion and focuses on property, infrastructure, renewable power and private-equity investments.<\/p>\n

Additional Articles:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Brookfield Takes Chase of Distressed Deals<\/a> – Wall Street Journal<\/p>\n

Brookfield takes over Atlantis Resort in Bahamas in debt-for-equity swap<\/a> – Washington Post<\/p>\n

Kerzner transfers ownership of Atlantis in Bahamas<\/a> – CBS News<\/p>\n

Kerzner International To Position Itself As A Management Company<\/a> – Hotel News Resource<\/p>\n

Kerzner transfers Atlantis resort ownership<\/a> – Travel & Leisure<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kerzner International Holdings Ltd., the company that has propped up Bahamas tourism for over a decade, handed ownership of the Atlantis resort to Brookfield Asset Management as part of a debt restructuring.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10223285771444175_51037792744":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[109,98,25,33],"class_list":["post-15681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-headlines","tag-atlantis","tag-financial","tag-hotels","tag-tourism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15681\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}