TIMESONLINE: A byword for colonial grandeur, and a favourite watering hole of such literary luminaries as Somerset Maugham, Joseph Conrad and Rudyard Kipling, Raffles Hotel, home to the Singapore Sling cocktail, has been put up for sale for up to $450 million (£300 million). Apparently, the hotel's owner, Prince Alwaleed of Saudi Arabia, is feeling the pinch.
The Times understands that Fairmont Raffles Hotels International, in which the Prince's Kingdom Holding Company (KHC) has a controlling stake, is seeking buyers for its remaining hotel assets, despite the depressed state of the property market, and it is understood he may even be prepared to sell his stake in the company itself.
Hotel industry sources believe that the Prince, dubbed the Warren Buffett of the Gulf, is looking at a range of disposals in response to the sharp fall in value of some of his biggest investments. KHC has seen a big drop in the value of its investments in companies including Songbird Estates, the majority owner of Canary Wharf, Euro Disney and News Corporation, parent company of The Times. Kingdom Hotel Investments, a small London-listed vehicle in which he has a 55 per cent stake, has lost more than two thirds of its value in the past 12 months. Raffles Hotel Put On Market as Prince Alwaleed Attempts to Stop Wealth Draining Away >>> Dominic Walsh | Thursday, April 16, 2009
