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Marriott Hotel can be sold to second ranked bidder – Jagdeo
Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo
Kaieteur News – The Guyana Marriott Hotel can be sold to the second ranked bidder given the death of the top bidder, American businessman Ramy El-Batrawi, Vice President (VP) Bharrat Jagdeo has said.
El-Batrawi’s bid of US$90 million stood as the highest offer for the Kingston, Georgetown property, positioning him as the frontrunner in negotiations with the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL).
Since last year, El-Batrawi’s team and NICIL and their lawyers commenced talks to finalize the sale of the Marriott Hotel. However, in April 2024, El-Batrawi passed away.
On Thursday afternoon, Jagdeo told reporters that the offer for the hotel revolved more around El-Batrawi and not his company X, LLC.
“So there’s a second ranked bidder but I don’t know where NICIL is with the second rank bidder but I said the last time I spoke on this matter… we are not desperate to sell the Marriott,” the Vice President said during a press conference held at the Office of the President.
The second ranked bidder is local consortium Integrated Group Guyana Limited, headed by Ravindra Prashad, whose bid was US$86.1 million.
Meanwhile, Jagdeo stated that whether the deal with the local group goes through, it is not a ‘big deal’.
“If it doesn’t go through, it’s fine. The Marriott is still there, 100 percent owned by the Government of Guyana,” the Vice President said.
Guyana Marriott Hotel
In December 2022, the Government announced that it will be selling the hotel. Following the announcement, six companies had submitted their proposals for the hotel. However, in May, the government had informed the bidders that their initial bids were rejected, because the bids were too low and did not reflect the true value of the hotel. Thereafter, four bidders dropped out leaving X, LLC owned by El-Batrawi, and Integrated Group Guyana Limited.
Negotiations with El-Batrawi and NICIL began in June 2023.
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