5 October 2006
Iconic Fairmont Hotels Returned to Canadian Hands
Toronto Ontario - The property division of the Ontario
Municipal Employees Retirement System has taken a first step into the hospitality industry, buying seven iconic Canadian hotels from
Fairmont Raffles Holdings in a $1.5-billion deal that both companies decided was best kept quiet.
The deal puts the Canadian cultural icons back into Canadian hands.
The massive first-time hotel investment involves some of Canada's most historic resorts, including Banff Springs and
the Fairmont Chateau Whistler in B.C.
The purchase by subsidiary Oxford Properties, confirmed yesterday by a spokeswoman for the pension fund, followed weeks of speculation
rumours a deal was in the works.
Other Canadian properties included in the sale to Oxford were the Chateau Lake Louise, the Fairmont Vancouver Airport and two
properties in Montebello, Quebec - the Fairmont Ken-auk and the Chateau Montebello.
Signs Fairmont was finalizing an assets sale surfaced in August when the Legacy Hotels Real Estate Investment Trust was charged an
unusual $1.1-million "strategic initiative" fee.
Yet, neither company would comment on the deal at the time.
"We felt that it was pretty soon to be well known, so it seemed kind of anticlimactic to make an announcement," said OMERS
spokeswoman Debbie Oakley.
The purchase comes after Saudi Prince al-Waleed bin Talal and U.S.-based Colony Capital bought Fairmont Hotels
& Resorts earlier this year for $3.3 billion US, combining it with Colony's Raffles hotels.
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