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Hilton Kingston Hotel owner says no sale yet

Sunday, May 06, 2007

Hilton Kingston Hotel owner Ron Kelly last night confirmed that he was in talks with potential buyers, including local alternative investment firm Cash Plus, but said he had not yet made a sale decision.

"I am actively considering selling," Kelly told the Sunday Observer. "I would say that in the next month or two I will make a decision. One thing that I don't want to do is upset the staff."
Earlier yesterday, the Sunday Observer was told that Cash Plus boss, Carlos Hill, had become the sole owner of the 303-room, 18-storey hotel after inking a deal worth just over US$40 million with Kelly last Friday.

Hill's attorney, Harold Brady, said that Hill had been placed on the hotel's board of directors and that Kelly would also remain a director.
"There will be no staff changes," said Brady. "There's going to be substantial refurbishing and upgrading of the hotel."
According to Brady, Hill wants to transform the hotel into a five-star property.

But last night Kelly, while admitting that Cash Plus was one of three prospective buyers with whom he has been having discussions, suggested that he was nowhere near making a deal with any of the parties.

"I don't know of any deal with Cash Plus," said Kelly, who also made it clear that he would sell to the party putting forward "the best offer".

It is not unusual when business transactions are delicately poised for the parties involved not to make the full details public.
However, talk of the sale of the property, which sits on 7.5 acres in the heart of Kingston's financial and diplomatic district, has raised concern among the staff, sources told the Sunday Observer yesterday.

Hey wm p have you got the designation number for the international?

Cash Plus, a five-year-old company in Jamaica, has built up an expansive array of businesses in its expanding and diversified portfolio of companies. Hill operates in the telecoms, financial, shipping, hospitality, fuels/chemicals, real estate and other sectors. He claims ownership of at least three other executive inn properties in Kingston, Montego Bay and Ocho Rios.

The Financial Services Com-mission (FSC) has been keeping tabs on Cash Plus' operations, and last week issued a formal notice advising that the company was not licensed as a securities dealer or investment adviser - statements it has made before in press reports.

Said the regulator: "The Financial Services Commission has issued a public notice advising that Cash Plus Limited is not licensed by the FSC to conduct securities business in Jamaica and that the securities offered to the public by Cash Plus Limited have not been registered by the FSC."