Marylebone Warwick Balfour Group Plc announces it has appointed Bank of America to secure a buyer for the Malmaison and Hotel du Vin
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Marylebone Warwick Balfour Group Plc announces it has appointed Bank of America to secure a buyer for the Malmaison and Hotel du Vin
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Category: Worldwide -
This is a press release selected by our editorial committee and published online for free on 2007-07-16
Marylebone Warwick Balfour Group Plc (“MWB” or “the Company”) today
announces it has appointed Bank of America (“BoA”) to secure a buyer for the
Malmaison and Hotel du Vin property assets (“the Property Portfolio”) following the
failure of Vector Hospitality Plc (“Vector”) to float and complete its proposed
acquisition of those assets.
The appointment of BoA is in line with MWB’s stated strategy of returning cash to
shareholders through its Cash Distribution Programme. The Board has appointed BoA
after reviewing proposals from a number of investment banks.
When a sale of the Property Portfolio has been agreed, MWB’s Board will seek
shareholders’ approval for the disposal, in exactly the same manner as it did on 4 May
2007 when seeking approval for the proposed sale to Vector.
At the Company’s EGM, held on 22 May 2007, over 90% of those voting in person or
by proxy were in favour of the sale to Vector for £495.1m, representing a £109m
surplus over the independent valuation of the Property Portfolio at 31st December
2006, undertaken for MWB’s year end accounts.
The Board of MWB continues to refute the damaging and wholly inaccurate
allegations made by Mercury Real Estate Advisors LLC (“Mercury”) in a letter dated
19 June 2007 that Mercury published on the internet. These allegations both
impugned the conduct of the Board and MWB’s Chief Executive Richard Balfour-
Lynn over the proposed sale of the Property Portfolio to Vector.
The Company has attempted to contact Mercury regarding the views expressed in the
letter but, to date, there has been no response to these calls.
Mercury, along with an overwhelming majority of MWB shareholders, voted in
favour of the sale to Vector. This sale was overseen by an independent committee of
the Board of MWB, none of whom was financially involved with Vector, or stood to
gain from the sale other than as shareholders in MWB.
Eric Sanderson, MWB Chairman, said: “Now that the Vector proposal has lapsed we
are proceeding with our back up strategy of seeking an alternative purchaser for these
assets. After considering submissions from a number of investment banks we have
selected Bank of America to assist us in this process and look forward to working
with them.
“I am extremely disappointed Mercury has not responded to our attempts to contact
them. Its publicly stated views regarding the process relating to the proposed sale to
Vector are wholly unfounded and remarks regarding our Chief Executive, Richard
Balfour-Lynn, in particular, are wholly unwarranted. Richard and his executive
colleagues will drive forward this process with the full support of the Board.”
Richard Balfour-Lynn, MWB’s Chief Executive, said: “I cannot stress enough how
appalled I am at Mercury’s behaviour which is not what one expects from an
institutional shareholder. There is absolutely no foundation whatsoever in Mercury’s
allegations that the Property Portfolio sale was not conducted in an independent and
open manner.
“I would also like to make it clear that the sale process was already well underway
before we received the Mercury letter. Discussions had been held with a number of
advisors on the best way of realising full value for the Property Portfolio in line with
our well-established Cash Realisation Programme.
“Publication of the letter by Mercury was certainly not in the best interests of
shareholders as a whole. While the Board could instigate proceedings against
Mercury, it does not feel this would be the best use of either management time or
shareholders’ funds. We will continue to run the Company in the best interests of
Shareholders and deliver maximum returns in line with our stated strategy.
“I am, and continue to be, the second largest shareholder in MWB with over 7.5m
shares, representing 9.4% of the Company. Therefore maximisation of the Company’s
value has always been, and continues to remain, of paramount importance to me as
well as the whole Board.”
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