Oct 2016 Financial News

Guardian Group buys Marriott

Oct 19, 2016

PUBLICLY listed financial services provider Guardian Group has added another hotel to its $15 billion portfolio of investments, the company confirmed in a notice on the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange (TTSE) yesterday.

The notice titled “Guardian Group Investing for Your Future” said: “With over $15 billion in investments in a highly diversified portfolio, Guardian Group helps to drive the Trinidad and Tobago and Caribbean economies, by investing in government paper, as well as, in solid private sector ventures. In this vein we have acquired the property operated as the Courtyard by Marriott at Invaders Bay, adding another solid foreign exchange earner to our investment portfolio. Marriott International has done a stellar job in making this one of the premier hotels in Trinidad, and we are confident that their continued success will translate into superior long-term returns for our customers and shareholders.”

Put up for sale

This is the second hotel in the Guardian Group’s portfolio, the first being the all-inclusive Beaches Boscobel Resort and Golf Club in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, where the Port of Spain-based group is partnered with Gordon “Butch” Stewart, chairman of Sandals Resorts International.
The Express was the first to report in November last year that three Marriott Courtyard hotels, including the one at Invaders Bay, had been put up for sale by Chicago-based commercial realtor CBRE Hotels.

Other hotels

The other two Marriott Courtyard hotels, one in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and another in San Jose, Costa Rica, remain for sale.

The Guardian Group is still mulling over whether it will bid on one or both of them and for that reason did not want to disclose the purchase price at which it acquired the Port of Spain property, a source close to the group said yesterday.
The Marriott will continue to run the hotel and take reservations, while the Guardian Group will merely own it and collect dividends.
In the original real estate listing last year, the Port of Spain Courtyard by Marriott was singled out under the cash flow heading as the agent said it “produces results on par with the best performing properties in the entire Courtyard system”.
Built in 2004, the Port of Spain Marriott has 119 guest rooms plus three suites.
Just across the road from the Hasely Crawford Stadium and the Jean Pierre Complex, the hotel is adjacent to the MovieTowne cineplex and shopping centre.
Around 2005-2006, Australian oil company BHP Billiton built its country headquarters immediately behind the Port of Spain Marriott.

Source:
By Aleem Khan
Express
Published on Oct 18, 2016, 10:41 pm AST 

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/20161018/business/guardian-group-buys-marriott