Gaw, Tencent consortium seeks to buy Four Seasons' Bora Bora resort

[HONG KONG] A consortium of Hong Kong-based private equity fund Gaw Capital Partners and individuals including Pony Ma, founder of China's Tencent Holdings Ltd, is looking to buy the Four Seasons Resort in Bora Bora, French Polynesia, Basis Point reported on Wednesday.

The consortium is seeking a loan of up to 100 million euros (S$150.112 million) to buy the resort from French national Thierry Barbion, Basis Point said, citing two people with direct knowledge of the matter.

The people were not authorised to speak publicly on the matter and so declined to be identified, said Basis Point, a Thomson Reuters publication.

Others in the consortium include Tencent President Martin Lau and Chief Strategy Officer James Mitchell, as well as Brandon Beck, co-founder of Riot Games, a Tencent subsidiary and developer of online game League of Legends, Basis Point said.

Also in the consortium are Neil Shen, founding and managing partner of venture capital firm Sequoia Capital China, and Askar Alshinbayev, managing partner of private equity firm Meridian Capital, Basis Point reported.

Deutsche Bank is acting as coordinator, mandated lead arranger and facility agent for the loan. Swansea King, a British Virgin Islands-incorporated entity, will act as borrower, Basis Point said.

The size of the five-year senior secured term loan could either be up to 100 million euros or 55 per cent of the resort's latest gross development value, whichever is lower, Basis Point reported.

Gaw Capital - whose hotel portfolio includes InterContinental in Hong Kong, Hyatt Regency Hotels in Japan's Osaka and Vietnam's Danang - said it was invited to bid on the Bora Bora resort but that it was "too early to comment".

Tencent, Sequoia Capital and Four Seasons were not immediately available for comment when contacted by Reuters. Deutsche Bank and Meridian Capital could be reached for comment.

REUTERS