Spending spree as Mida gets into hotels
Bangkok-based hire-purchase finance firm Mida Assets has bought stakes in five hotel companies, the Stock Exchange of Thailand reported yesterday.
The purchases give Mida major interests in four-, five- and six-star hotels on Koh Samui and in Phuket, Hua Hin, Chiang Mai and Kanchanaburi. This is Mida's first entry into the hospitality industry. Its main business is financing hire-purchases of home appliances, home furniture and motorcycles. Mida told the stock exchange it would buy a 50-per-cent stake in Samui Peninsula by purchasing 2.9 million newly issued shares at Bt100 each for a total of Bt290 million. Samui Peninsula operates the five-star Sofitel Samui Resort and Spa, which has 140 rooms. It has also acquired 1.8 million shares of Phuket Peninsula at Bt116.66 apiece from shareholders, the Setaphan family. That amounts to 30 per cent of Phuket Peninsula's registered capital. The company owns the Phuket Peninsula Resort and Spa, which is fully built but not yet decorated. It will open in September and be renamed the Hyatt Phuket. Phuket Peninsula has an agreement with the Hyatt chain for management of the five-star hotel. It is being decorated in line with the standards of Hyatt, which has assigned a GM to the property. Mida said it bought a 50-per-cent stake in Hot Spring last October by acquiring 3 million shares in that company for Bt100 apiece, or Bt300 million total. Hot Spring plans to build and operate a six-star hotel to be named the Park Hyatt Chiang Mai, under management by the Hyatt chain. The hotel is currently in the design stage and will be built in Chiang Mai's Mae On sub-district. Mida also acquired 597,000 shares of The Retreat Hua Hin for Bt100 apiece for a total transaction value of Bt59.7 million. The shareholding accounts for 30 per cent of The Retreat's registered capital. It operates a five-star boutique hotel called The Retreat Hua Hin Resort and Spa on Hua Hin beach in Prachuap Khiri Khan province. Mida reported that it recently founded Top Elements, with registered and paid-up capital of Bt1 million. The firm has bought the land and buildings of the Kasalong Hotel and Resort in Kanchanaburi, valued at Bt50 million. Meanwhile, Apichart Sankary, president of the Association of Thai Travel Agents and owner of the AED Travel Group, is negotiating to take over a 95-room three-star hotel on Kata Beach in Phuket worth more than Bt1 billion.
Suchat Sritama The Nation
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