Thai Company Bids for Oaks Group
The embattled Sunshine Coast company Oaks Hotels and Resorts has been thrown a lifeline by Bangkok-based Minor International Plc. Hospitality firm, Minor, which owns 50% of The Coffee Club, has a portfolio of 33 hotels in eight countries under the Anantara, Marriott, Four Seasons, St Regis, Elewana and Minor International brands.
In a notification to the Stock Exchange of Thailand, Minor announced they completed the acquisition of 14.96% from Oaks director David Wu on 18 March and agreed on the sale of a further 5% for a combined 19.96% stake, subject to approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board.
Brett Pointon, the force behind Oaks Hotels and Resorts, was fired two weeks ago by the company he founded. The firm said the former school teacher and pool cleaner turned entrepreneur and Oaks chief executive officer “has been terminated, effective immediately” with no further explanation.
Company chairman Doug Wong has made no comment since except to say it was a unanimous decision by the board.
It was only two weeks prior to his firing that Mr Pointon presided over the company’s first half results – the strongest growth in Oaks’ history. In an announcement to the stock exchange, Mr Pointon said “the strength of Oaks’ performance is a direct result of a complete operational restructure in 2009”.
Now in Minor’s sights is the third of Oaks shares held for sale by receivers PricewaterhouseCoopers after ANZ swooped on two companies associated with Mr Pointon in late January. As well, Minor, through its wholly owned subsidiary Delicious Food Holdings (Singapore) Pte, will tender for 80.04% of shares in Oaks. Minor said its bid offer, which values the company at $61 million, provided certainty for Oaks investors.
Minor International chairman and chief executive William E Heinecke said: “Our board is excited by the opportunity to expand Minor International’s extensive hotel footprint to the Australian market.”
William E Heinecke
Oaks is a big player in serviced apartment management in Australia, with 4373 rooms in its portfolio. It has managed properties in Australia (33), New Zealand (4) and Dubai (1). During the second half of last year, Oaks reported a net profit of $6 million on revenue of $69 million.
Its average occupancy rate was 80.54% and room rates rose to an average of $156 per night.
AccomNews is not affiliated with any government agency, body or political party. We are an independently owned, family-operated magazine.
