Belmond Attracts Interest From Hilton, Blackstone, KKR

(Bloomberg) -- Belmond Ltd., which owns the iconic ‘21' Club, has attracted interest from potential buyers, according to people familiar with the matter.

KSL Capital Partners LLC, Blackstone Group LP, KKR & Co., Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp., Hyatt Hotels Corp. and Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. are among parties weighing an offer for all or part of the company, said some of the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. First-round offers for Belmond are due later this month, the people said.

Belmond, with a market value of $1.8 billion, said in August that it's working with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. to evaluate a sale. Its shares have since soared more than 60 percent to their highest level since 2008 and rose to a session high Tuesday afternoon after Bloomberg reported on some of the company's prospective suitors.

“There could be large public lodging companies, private real estate-focused entities and sovereign entities as viable suitors,” analysts at Jefferies Financial Group Inc. said in a note to clients in August.

Representatives for Belmond, KSL, Hilton, Blackstone and KKR declined to comment. A representative for Ashkenazy didn't immediately have a comment.

Hyatt said it's not within the company's policy to comment on potential transactions. “We continue to evaluate opportunities to invest in the growth of our business while maintaining our commitment to reduce our portfolio of owned real estate.”

Beyond luxury hotels across the world, Belmond also owns restaurants such as New York's famed ‘21' Club, train lines, river cruises and safaris. Belmond in July entered an agreement with its former chairman James Sherwood in which he terminated certain purchase rights for the Belmond Hotel Cipriani in Venice, Italy, in the event of a sale of the company. That move "brings clarity" to the company's strategic review, Belmond Chairman Roland Hernandez said on an August earnings call.

To contact the reporter on this story: Gillian Tan in New York at gtan129@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alan Goldstein at agoldstein5@bloomberg.net, Debarati Roy, Christine Maurus

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