Senegal Puts Five-Star Hotel Up For Sale

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Feb 5th 2009 at 2:02PM

The African country of Senegal may have to sell its biggest hotel complex in order to pay debts. The five-star hotel was originally built and financed by the Saudi monarch King Fahd for the Islamic Conference summit in 1993 but is now operated as part of Starwood's Meridien brand. The hotel hosted a second Islamic Conference summit last year. After that summit the government found $147 million in unbudgeted spending and that it owed millions of dollars worth of debts to local businesses. Senegal's president, Abdoulaye Wade promised last fall to repay those debts by the end of January but many are still outstanding. Reuters reports that France agreed to lend Senegal 125 million euros to help pay off the debts and the International Monetary Fund offered a $75.6 million, one-year funding deal from its Exogenous Shocks Facility to help offset the rise in energy and food prices. It seems to have not been enough, a public tender published in Senegalese newspapers yesterday offered up the hotel complex to local or foreign investors.

The hotel is said to be one of the finest hotels in West Africa. It is perched on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean and offers water sports, deep-sea fishing, golf and tennis. Rates start around 200 euros a night.

Tags: africa, hotel, le meridien, LeMeridien, senegal

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Manfred Jansen Mar 17th 2009 10:24AM

Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren,
Wir interessieren uns im Namen unseres Investors für Ihr Angebot. Wenn Sie einem gemeinschaftlichen Geschäft zwischen Kollegen zustimmen, nehmen Sie bitte per email Kontakt mit mir auf.
Mit freundlichen Grüssen
Manfred Jansen
Walther & Partner GmbH

Dear Sirs,
we are interested in this offer from 5 star hotel in the name of our investor. If you like to make biz with us together we afraid to hear about you.
Sincerely yours
Manfred Jansen
Walther & Partner GmbH